Brazilian steel company Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) said Thursday that it has restarted its second blast furnace at its Volta Redonda mill in Rio de Janeiro State after a 90-day outage.
The restart of the second furnace will bring capacity utilization at the mill, which produces 5.6 million mt of crude steel per year, up to 90 percent from its current 65 percent, CSN said. The furnace will resume production of 4,200 mt per day of pig iron, bringing the plant's total pig iron output up to 14,500 mt per day.
The blast furnace No. 2 had been shutdown for a US$51 million overhaul. The refurbished unit will now be able to operate for another eight years before its next scheduled outage, CSN said.
A local news agency in Brazil also reported Thursday that another Brazilian steelmaker, Gerdau, was likely to restart its Acominas mill imminently.