Russian steelmaker Severstal plans to start a new blast furnace (BF) at its Cherepovets steel mill in late August or September this year, the company said on Monday July 20. The additional volumes of pig iron it produces will be used to meet the company's own needs.
"We are starting to heat up the Cowper stove at BF3. That is the key stage of the construction of the furnace, which will have capacity for more than 3 million tonnes per year of pig iron," Evgeny Vinogradov, chief executive officer of Severstal's Russian Steel Division, said. "Commissioning of the BF is planned for the second half of the third quarter...