"Health, safety and the environment are our first priorities. All personnel are now accounted for, and we are following up the four colleagues who have been sent to the local health services for check-ups. In addition, we have halted all production and are doing our utmost to assist the emergency services," says Ove Sørdahl, plant manager for Elkem Salten.

The fire is reported to have started in a building which is housing raw materials, including carbon materials. Some of these are highly flammable.

Elkem Salten is located in Straumen, in the Sørfold municipality in Nordland county in the north of Norway. It is one of the world's largest and most modern silicon plants exporting silicon and silica fume products worldwide. The plant has around 200 employees. With its three furnaces, the plant has an annual production capacity of 128,000 mt, of which silicon capacity is 80,000.

"We are still at an early stage and it is too soon to be precise on any long-term impacts on production or physical assets. Health, safety and the environment must come first. That said, all production is currently halted. We will come back with additional updates once we have more information on the totality of the situation," says Sørdahl.