LIBERTY Ostrava is supplying 400 mine support arches to  a major sewerage reconstruction project in Prague. It is one of the more unusual applications of Ostrava’s mine supports, which are most often used deep underground in mines all over central and eastern Europe. 

Ostrava’s mines supports are being used in Prague 7, Bubenské nábřeží, in a 160 meter long section stretching from the main entrance to Holešovice market-hall to the intersection with Za Viaduktem street. The reconstruction programme is using the mining method in which mining shafts are being drilled, which will be followed by excavation of a tunnel. Tunnel frames with reinforcements will be used on the drift. The reconstruction should be completed next June. 

Although the use of mine supports in sewerage is unusual, the company in charge of the reconstruction, Čermák & Hrachovec, which specializes in the construction of engineering networks, trenchless technology and complete supply of water and sewer lines, has had good experience with them and basically has not used any other type of technology over the past twenty years.

“We primarily supply mine supports mainly to collieries, especially to OKD. Outside of mines, they also find use in tunnels and collectors for customers mainly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, although you can also find Ostrava mine supports being used in other countries of Europe and worldwide. However, their use in sewerage is quite unique in my experience,” confirmed LIBERTY Ostrava’s Product Manager Zdeněk Vašek.

LIBERTY Ostrava manufactures channel profile supports for steel frames in the sewers on Bubenské nábřeží. They will be installed with an axial distance of 0.8 metres. The entire route will be bored under the protection of the so called Union steel casings, which are also supplied by LIBERTY Ostrava. A uniform sewer system will be made of concrete pipes in the tunnel.

Photo credit: archives of Čermák & Hrachovec

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LIBERTY Ostrava is an integrated steel company with an annual production capacity of 3.6 million tons of steel, which is used mainly in the construction, engineering and oil and gas industries. It is a domestic leader in the production of road barriers and tubes. In addition to the Czech market, it supplies its products to more than 40 countries around the world. Together with its subsidiaries, it has 6,000 employees. Thanks to above-standard greening, it manufactures its products with as little environmental footprint as possible. The steel mill belongs to the LIBERTY Steel Group.

LIBERTY Steel Group plans to invest 8.6 billion of Czech Korunas in the LIBERTY Ostrava GREENSTEEL transformation program over the course of the next eight years so that it is carbon neutral by 2030. The key element of the CN30 program will be the replacement of the steelwork’s existing four tandem furnaces with two state-of-the-art hybrid electric arc furnaces and the building of a new power line. The new furnaces, for which the contracts were signed at the beginning of July, will be delivered by Danieli, a leading global manufacturer of plants and machinery. At the same signing ceremony, LIBERTY Ostrava signed a Declaration of Cooperation with ČEZ ESCO to identify and develop renewable energy and hydrogen technologies and announced the launch of the GFG Foundation in the Czech Republic.

In addition to the modernization of the steel shop, the transformation will also include an extensive modernization of the steel rolling mills, which will improve the quality of steel and expand the product portfolio with high added value products. The investment program will also see the creation of a renewable power plant for electricity production as well as the development of the GREENSTEEL Academy, which aims to upskill the plant’s current workforce and encourage new people into the industry.

LIBERTY Steel Group is part of the global GFG Alliance owned by Sanjeev Gupta and his family. The GFG Alliance has three independent industrial brands: LIBERTY S teel Group, ALVANCE Aluminum Group and SIMEC Energy Group which share the same values and strive for a long-term sustainable future for industry and society. The GFG Alliance operates in 30 countries, with a total of 35,000 employees and a turnover of over $20 billion.