MECHEL ANNOUNCES ACCIDENT AT ITS CHELYABINSK METALLURGICAL PLANT

Chelyabinsk, Russia – March 11, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL) announces gas
flash at its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (CMP) subsidiary.
On March, 11 at 9.30 a.m. local time (7.30 a.m. Moscow time) in the coke shop #2
of Mechel-Coke OOO planned steam-cleaning operations for a gas pipe line of
recycling coke gas were implemented. At 10.20 a.m. in the tunnel of the coke
oven battery #8 machine coke gas exhausted and flashed. The gas pipe line was
destroyed and coke gas burning followed.  Barrier and wall structures of the
tunnel are also damaged. The accident caused death of one tunnel-servicing woman
of the coke shop #2 and another tunnel-servicing woman was injured and brought
to hospital.
As of 14.00 p.m. local time emergency works are implemented in accordance with
operational plan. Damaged coke oven battery operations are stopped.
Repair works are planned to take about two weeks. Daily furnace-size coke output
of the plant will be decreased by approximately 900 tonnes. New production
programme is being prepared to minimize negative effects of the accident to
CMP’s and Mechel-Coke OOO’s operations. Demand for coke of CMP’s blast furnace
production shop will be fully supplied.
A special commission is made to investigate causes and after-effects of the
accident.
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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 both 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.