OREANDA-NEWS. January 9, 2008. As a result of an accident on 5 January at its small blast furnace, Blast Furnace “B”, Severstal North America, (SNA), has halted production at this facility pending a comprehensive damage assessment a company investigation into the cause. 

Blast Furnace “B” was in regular operation when eruption   breached the furnace and, regrettably, injured a passing on-site contractor. 

Blast Furnace “B” is the smaller of SNA’s two furnaces and is used to produce pig iron for subsequent conversion into steel.  "B" Furnace's daily production is 1 800 tons.  SNA’s primary “C” Blast Furnace, a newly rebuilt state-of-the-art facility, was completely unaffected by the accident at Blast Furnace “B”, but is likely  to be temporarily suspended as part of the overall investigation.

Further information, including the duration and likely impact on production of the outage, will be reported as it is known.