MECHEL REPORTS HALT OF SIBIRGINSKAYA MINE AT SOUTHERN KUZBASS COAL COMPANY
Myski, Russia – June 15, 2011 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, reports the temporary halt of the
Sibirginskaya mine owned by Southern Kuzbass Coal Company OAO, which is part of
Mechel Mining OAO.
At the Sibirginskaya mine, a heightened level of fire gases was detected in the
mined-out area of the long wall 3-1-9, which indicates self-heating of coal. Due
to that, mining works at the site were halted and all miners returned to the
surface.
No carbon monoxide was detected in the long wall 3-1-9’s active mine-working.
Southern Kuzbass Coal Company’s experts mapped out measures to prevent this
incident’s possible negative consequences, which included temporarily isolating
the long wall 3-1-9. Experts use remote probing to monitor the content of gases
in the long wall’s mined-out area.
Mining at the Sibirginskaya mine is currently halted, with the mine’s experts
working on the way to liquidate the source of self-heating. The mine’s entire
production infrastructure, including transport, ventilation, pumps, power
facilities, tunneling faces and active mine-working areas are operational and
safe.
The date when mining is resumed will be determined once the project of
liquidating the source of self-heating is complete.
The mine’s storages hold enough coal for the company to meet all its contractual
obligations.
Halting the mine’s work will not impact the construction project for
Sibirginskaya’s second line, which, when completed, is due to increase the
enterprise’s production capacity to 2.4 million tonnes a year.

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Mechel OAO
Ekaterina Videman
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
ekaterina.videman@mechel.com

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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, rolled products,
hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and
internationally.

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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.