MECHEL ANNOUNCES VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA) REPUBLIC AND
AMURSKAYA OBLAST GOVERNOR TO ELGA COAL DEPOSIT AND ULAK-ELGA RAILROAD
CONSTRUCTION SITE

Neryungri, Russia – March 9, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces visit of the President of Sakha
(Yakutia) Republic Vyacheslav Styrov and Amurskaya Oblast Governor Oleg
Kozhemyako to Elga coal deposit And Ulak-Elga railroad construction site.
On March, 5, 2010 a working visit was made to Elga coal deposit and Ulak-Elga
railroad construction site by Vyacheslav Styrov, the President of Sakha
(Yakutia) Republic, Oleg Kozhemyako, Amurskaya Oblast Governor, Gennady Alexeev,
the First Deputy Chairman of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Government and
Vladimir Kozhevnikov, Head of Neryungrinsky Region. From the side of Mechel the
trip was participated by Igor Zyuzin, Mechel’s Chief Executive Officer, Mukhamed
Tsikanov, Senior Vice President on Economics and Management, Petr Syrkin,
Vice-President for Capital Construction, and Igor Khafizov, Yakutugol OAO’s
Managing Director. The delegation visited various objects of the railroad’s
construction and the deposit itself.
This was the first joint visit of the President of Sakha (Yakutia) Republic,
Amurskaya Oblast Governor and Mechel’s management to Elga coal deposit directly.
Inspection of the Elga coal deposit development complex started from the visit
to the construction’s headquaters which is located on the base of “4th km of the
Ulak-Elga railway spur track”. The base belongs to Mechel OAO’s subsidiary
Metallurgshachtspectzstroy ZAO which is the project’s general contractor. At
this base units of heavy machinery are formed into convoys and then are sent to
the site of the open pit mine construction.
At the “4th km of the Ulak-Elga railway spur track” base a  meeting was held.
During the meeting Petr Syrkin told about progress in works on the Ulak-Elga
railroad construction and plans to develop Elga coal deposit. Vyacheslav Styrov,
the President of Sakha (Yakutia) Republic pointed to the importance of the
project, especially for Sakha (Yakutia) Republic itself.  He noted hard
geological environment of the railroad, which goes through mountain chains and
crossings and canyons. Vyacheslav Styrov proposed cooperation in construction of
some of strategically important objects of infrastructure in line with regional
development projects.  Oleg Kozhemyako, Amurskaya Oblast Governor, in his turn
proposed to use human resources from settlements nearby. In this regard it is
important to make a joint program for staff training in order to meet the
project’s demand, he said.
The ending point of the visit was the 315th km of the railroad, where Vyacheslav
Styrov, Oleg Kozhemyako and Igor Zyuzin installed a memorial sign, thus fixing
the beginning of Elga coal deposit development. The President of Sakha (Yakutia)
Republic noted the great historical importance of the moment when development of
the largest coal deposit on the Far East started. Its development would
significantly contribute to social sphere and economy of the region and industry
in whole, he said.
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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, 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.