Vietnam’s Formosa Ha Tinh steelworks, the country’s first slab and hot rolled coil capacity, is still operating after an explosion at a dust collection plant late Tuesday. The first blast furnace was blown-in earlier on Tuesday after months of delays and plenty of drama, Kallanish notes.

The operation of the 4,350 cubic metre blast furnace was unaffected, the company has said. The explosion occurred at a dust collecting facility, which was immediately shut down for inspection. “There was no fire, damage or casualties as a result,” the company told Reuters.

The plant has been at the centre of several incidents, including a fatal riot by Vietnamese nationalists which resulted in the deaths of several Chinese workers, a fatal scaffolding accident and a number of environmental complaints. The worst environmental complaint was the cause of the delayed start-up. This had come about when a mishap at the coking plant resulted in the pollution of more than 200km of coastline and a $500m fine.

The steelworks is a major step forward for the local steel industry however, which until now has been completely dependent on imports for HRC. The first 3.5 million tonnes/year phase will supply HRC. Wire rod and billet, and capacity could be doubled in a second phase over 2018-2019. Formosa is controlled by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group and also counts China Steel and Japan’s JFE Steel among its investors.