Tata Steel closed the sinter plant, blast furnace no.4 and primary steelmaking at its Port Talbot works on Monday, bringing to an end ironmaking at the site.
Port Talbot shut down blast furnace no.5 and its coke ovens earlier this year, as part of its electric arc furnace transformation, for which it finally secured a £500 million ($653m) government grant in September (see Kallanish passim).
The company expects to announce in the coming weeks the supplier of its prospective 3 million tonnes/year EAF, which is scheduled to go online by end-2027. Some of the secondary steelmaking assets and two remaining continuous casters are being retained for major investments in advance of the start of the EAF.
Tata Steel UK chief executive Rajesh Nair says he is “deeply conscious how difficult” the move is for everyone associated with the business.
“At the same time, we know that Port Talbot has been a steel plant where industrial processes and new technologies have been introduced to enhance its output, often setting standards for other steelmakers,” he adds. “In that tradition, we are planning a brighter, greener future through our £1.25 billion investment in low CO2 scrap-based steelmaking, which will sustain more than 5,000 jobs across the UK, and which will also give Tata Steel businesses across the UK a competitive market advantage.”
Adam Smith Poland
