NEWS RELEASE
ESSAR STEEL ALGOMA INC.
************************** Essar Steel Algoma reports temporary blast furnace outage
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - Essar Steel Algoma Inc. stated today that a cooling water leak, compounded by extreme weather conditions, has resulted in an operating failure and unplanned outage of its No. 7 blast furnace.
The leak occurred on January 21, 2011.
Initial efforts towards an expedited start-up were not successful due to extreme weather conditions.
A slow and controlled restart of the furnace has commenced.
The company expects the furnace will return to full operation in approximately 10 days.
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