The Russian steelmaker Severstal has confirmed that an accident happened at its subsidiary Severstal North America's (SNA) small blast furnace (BF) "B" on January 5.
As a result of the accident, production at the BF "B" has been halted to assess the damage and investigate the causes.
The BF "B" is the smaller of SNA's two furnaces, with daily production of 1,800 mt, and is used to produce pig iron for subsequent conversion into steel.
Meanwhile, SNA's primary blast furnace BF "C" was unaffected by the accident but its operation is likely to be temporarily suspended as part of the overall investigation.