NLMK announces that it has started maintenance work on Blast Furnace #3 at its main production site in Lipetsk.  The furnace has a production capacity about 1.3 million tonnes of pig iron per year.  

As part of the process, there will be a change of refractory and refrigerators as well as a partial change of the furnace shell.  The project will cost USD 3.5 million and is to be completed in December 2008.   

The maintenance work will reduce pig iron production volume by 170,000 tonnes (or 2%) of the volumes planned for 2008.