UPDATED — Feb. 7 at 3:05 p.m.
Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said he feels “very lucky” nobody was injured or died in an incident in one of the furnaces at the Copper Cliff Smelter during the morning of Feb. 6.
“There was a potential of a serious injury, if not a fatality,” Bertrand, who represents smelter employees, said.
As a result of the failure of the tapping block in the number two furnace, there was a leak of molten metal, according to Vale spokesperson Angie Robson.
The molten metal caused the water cooling lines to rupture. When the molten metal hit the water, there was a “significant reaction,” or explosions, she said. Bertrand said as far as he knows, the explosions continued for about 40 minutes.
The explosions caused fires at the smelter, and the city's fire department was called in, Robson said.
“We've got to recognize a couple of guys who saw the potential danger, and made sure everybody got out,” Bertrand said.
While the problem was in the number two furnace, the number one furnace was shut down as a precaution, she said.
The number one furnace is currently in the process of being started up again, and will be up and running later today.
Robson said she doesn't know how long the number two furnace will be out of commission, nor how much the repairs will cost.
“Public safety was never compromised, as the incident was isolated to the smelter, and specifically the area around the number two flash furnace,” she said.
“When the failure was realized, the surrounding area was isolated. There were no injuries. Safety protocols worked as they should have. Full credit goes to the operators who were working at the smelter at the time.”
The Ministry of Labour was notified of the incident.
The number two furnace at the Copper Cliff Smelter was also shut down Jan. 1 after a failure of the south wall in the furnace, Robson said. The number one furnace continued to operate during that failure.
