Abstract: In the environment of a blast furnace having a tuyere protruding inwardly from its inner wall and fed by a blow pipe, a lance extends through a side wall of the blow pipe for injecting coal-water or coal-tar mixtures or any other highly-loaded coal slurry through a central conduit surrounded by an outer conduit for air under pressure that cools the lance and atomizes the fuel carried by the inner conduit. The inner conduit terminates no farther into the blow pipe than the inner wall of the blow pipe, so that the hot air passing through the blow pipe does not heat the inner conduit and clog it. The outer conduit terminates on the axis of the blow pipe at about the connection between the tuyere and the blow pipe.