Renewed hope for Redcar Corus plant sale

Hundreds of jobs were lost when the blast furnace was shut down

The chief executive of Corus has hinted at a possible sale of Redcar's Teesside Cast Products plant.

Speaking in India at a presentation of parent company Tata's financial results Kirby Adams said talks were continuing and he expected a "good result".

The plant was partially mothballed with the loss of 1,600 jobs in February.

Corus is believed to be in discussions with Thai steelmaker SSI, but all parties have signed confidentiality agreements.

Mr Adams said: "Regrettably there's nothing new to report today on the Teesside process, but the process is continuing and we are expecting a good result."

He also praised employees for "safely mothballing Teesside".

Geoff Waterfield, chair of the the multi union, said: "We've seen an improvement in all market places, certainly there's been a massive surge forward in the areas we would be looking to sell our steel.

"Corus have indicated to us that they are not dragging their feet, and that's a good sign.

"There's also an interested party that wants to get on with things, so hopefully I'd like to see us making steel for Christmas."