Mechel Announces Starting Date to Place Its Preferred Shares

MOSCOW - Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals
companies, announces the starting date to place its preferred shares through
public offering.

The decision to increase the company’s charter capital through placing
its preferred shares through public offering and the Prospectus of Securities
were approved by the resolution of Mechel OAO’s Board of Directors on May 14,
2008. The Russian Federal Financial Markets Service registered 55 million of
Mechel preferred shares with the nominal value of RUR10.0 each on June 5,
2008.

As a result of the resolution adopted by Mechel’s Board of Directors,
amendments were made on the Issue and Prospectus of Securities, and the
preferred shares were suspended on September 19, 2008. These amendments were
regarding the quantity of the preferred shares issue, which increased to
138,756,915 shares with the nominal value of RUR10.0 each.

The Russian Federal Financial Markets Service registered the amendments
to the Resolution on the Issue and Prospectus of Securities on October 23,
2008, and the placement resumed on October 24, 2008.

On March 25, 2009, Mechel’s Chief Executive Officer established that the
new date to start placing the preferred shares would be on April 1, 2009.

The preferred share offer price is to be determined by Mechel’s Board of
Directors after the state registration of the share issue and no later than
the placement starting date.

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, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware,
heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and
internationally.

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.

Source: Mechel OAO

Ilya Zhitomirsky of Mechel OAO, +7-495-221-88-88, ilya.zhitomirsky at mechel.com