600 Jobs Created If Steel Recycling Scheme Goes Ahead

The expansion of Liberty Steel in Lliswerry in Wales could see 600 jobs created in two years if plans go ahead to melt scrap metal down in an arc furnace before transforming it into new products.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of Liberty, explained that the intention is to collect this scrap and turn it into liquid steel before it’s used to make slabs, which are imported at the moment, the BBC reports.

“Newport used to produce two million tonnes of liquid steel so we’re trying to reinstate a million tonnes of that – and the timeline to reinstate those hot furnaces, subject to everything going well, is two years,” he was quoted by the news source as saying.

In addition, the company has also just reopened a steel plant in Tredegar that it assumed ownership of after previous owners Caparo went into administration. Some 70 jobs will also be created there.

This is certainly good news for the UK steel industry, which has been struggling for the last few years off the back of cheap imports flooding the market from China. While the government is being urged to do all it can to support local businesses and use UK steel, it seems perhaps that the message is not quite getting through.

A recent Daily Mail investigation found that a French company was chosen over British firms to provide the material for the construction of new Trident nuclear missile submarines in a deal that is apparently worth tens of millions of pounds. Had this work stayed in the UK, around 1,000 jobs could have been safeguarded.

For concrete reinforcement in Yorkshire, see us here at Foregale today