Australian steelmaker OneSteel Limited announced on April 21 that following stoppages which emerged over the weekend the company completed the required repairs to its Whyalla blast furnace, but as of the morning of the given date has been unable to recommence operations due to difficulty in reestablishing connections between the blast furnace tap holes and tuyeres.
In an official statement, OneSteel said that the connections are required to recommence stable smelting process conditions and, as a result, OneSteel now expects it will take approximately four weeks from now to return the blast furnace to normal operating levels.
Due to available EAF capacity and the company's strong broad-based inventory position, OneSteel expects minimal impact on its ability to meet expected customer demand across the majority of its products and customers, the company said. Additionally, the producer will have recourse to imports to supplement products where required.
The company does not believe the interruption will have a material impact on its earnings for the second half of this financial year.