Lochaber will benefit from news that steel giant Liberty House is to create jobs and secure the future of five plants in a multi-million pound deal.
The company formally completed the deal – worth £100 million – to buy Tata Steel UK’s Speciality Steels Division.
As a result, the jobs of 1,700 staff at three major sites in Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth in South Yorkshire will be protected as well as those in smaller sites in throughout England.
Liberty also announced expansion plans expected to generate an additional 300 production jobs in the industry.
A company spokesman explained that acquiring the plant at Rotherham will mean good news for the aluminium smelter at Fort William and will strengthen the group’s links with Lochaber.
He said: “A deal like this is not done overnight, but it will overlap with the Fort William smelter. It’s all part of the company’s wider plan as it wants to strengthen and consolidate its green metal strategy.
“The steel smelting capacity at Rotherham will be overlapping with the wider plan for Lochaber. The aluminium produced there will be used to manufacture alloy wheels when the new plant comes into operation, but further down the line, different metals are used in the automotive industry and Fort William’s low carbon production will be feeding into this.”
He added: “The acquisition will help the long-term sustainability of the group.”
Liberty House and sister company, SIMEC, are part of the global giant, GFG Alliance. Liberty bought the smelter at Fort William and its two hydro plants for £330 million from Rio Tinto last November.
Almost immediately, GFG Alliance revealed its plans to develop a new plant at the site which will produce alloy wheels for the motor industry.
The company said this would be the centrepiece of the £120million first phase of a major long-term investment in the area, creating a total of 1,000 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs. It will also add £1billion to the local economy.
Smaller steel-making sites around the country will also see their jobs protected as a result of the new Liberty House deal. These are in Bolton, Lancashire, and Wednesbury in the West Midlands. Two distribution centres in China will also benefit as a result of the new acquisition.
