Kennametal Inc. announced today that it has presented its fifth annual Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Excellence Awards to six Kennametal projects worldwide. The awards recognize excellence in promoting progressive environmental, health and safety initiatives. This year Kennametal received a record 52 nominations spanning a wide array of projects and ideas.

"At Kennametal, Environmental Health and Safety is an integral part of our core business strategy," commented Kennametal President and CEO Carlos Cardoso. "We are committed to helping safeguard the health and safety of our employees and the environments in which they operate. We are honored to recognize the projects that showcase excellence in this area and commend the locations for their continued commitment to EHS initiatives."

Winners of the 2006 EHS Excellence Awards were chosen by a set of six external judges representing various environmental, health and safety institutions. Nominees were judged according to their demonstration of leadership, innovation, facility collaboration, employee benefit, measurable cost and risk reduction and improvement in business operations and quality.

  This year's winners are:

   * Presidential Award for Health and Safety: ROGERS, ARKANSAS
     Through analysis of historical data and current operations, the
     Kennametal Rogers facility reduced the frequency of employee manual
     lifting without compromising efficiency.

   * Presidential Award for Environmental: BANGALORE, INDIA
     Through a series of engineering controls, Kennametal's Bangalore
     facility significantly reduced the average load on their electrical
     systems and annual power consumption.

   * Health and Safety Excellence Award: JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE
     Kennametal's Johnson City facility was recognized for their very
     successful safety programs.

   * Health and Safety Excellence Award: BANGALORE, INDIA
     Through installation of a water-cooled vibro conveyor, Kennametal's
     Bangalore facility is continuing to protect the health and safety of
     their employees.

   * Environmental Excellence Award: CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA
     Kennametal's Clemson plant developed a winning process that reduced
     waste generation and provided significant financial savings.

   * Environmental Excellence Award: NABBURG RUBIG, GERMANY
     Kennametal's Nabburg Rubig facility improved its building's structure
     to be more energy efficient and reduced heating energy usage year over
     year.

Kennametal Inc. is a leading global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials consumed in production processes. The company improves customers' competitiveness by providing superior economic returns through the delivery of application knowledge and advanced technology to master the toughest of materials application demands. Companies producing everything from airframes to coal, from medical implants to oil wells and from turbochargers to motorcycle parts recognize Kennametal for extraordinary contributions to their value chains. Customers buy over $2.3 billion annually of Kennametal products and services-delivered by our approximately 13,500 talented employees in over 60 countries -- with almost 50 percent of these revenues coming from outside the United States. Visit us at www.kennametal.com. [KMT-G]

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: Christina.reitano@kennametal.com

SOURCE: Kennametal Inc.