SVST.L Regulatory News (SVST)

7 Jan 2008 15:23

OAO Severstal07 January 2008 SEVERSTAL NORTH AMERICA, INC. CONFIRMS ACCIDENT AT ITS SMALL BLAST FURNACE DEARBORN, Mich., January 7, 2008 - As a result of an accident on 5 January atits small blast furnace, Blast Furnace "B", Severstal North America, (SNA), hashalted production at this facility pending a comprehensive damage assessment acompany investigation into the cause. Blast Furnace "B" was in regular operation when eruption breached the furnaceand, regrettably, injured a passing on-site contractor. Blast Furnace "B" is the smaller of SNA's two furnaces and is used to producepig iron for subsequent conversion into steel. "B" Furnace's daily production is1 800 tons. SNA's primary "C" Blast Furnace, a newly rebuilt state-of-the-artfacility, was completely unaffected by the accident at Blast Furnace "B", but islikely to be temporarily suspended as part of the overall investigation. Further information, including the duration and likely impact on production ofthe outage, will be reported as it is known. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange