First Minister to reopen Motherwell steel mill

The Scottish Steel industry begins its revival in earnest today (Wednesday) as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon formally reopens the iconic Dalzell works in Motherwell.
Operations manager Pat Mullen watches the Dalzell rolling mill get back into action.

 © Warren Media 2016.Operations manager Pat Mullen watches the Dalzell rolling mill get back into action.

 © Warren Media 2016.
Operations manager Pat Mullen watches the Dalzell rolling mill get back into action. © Warren Media 2016.

In front of nearly 200 guests and staff, Mrs Sturgeon will officially mark the restart of the plant which was rescued by Liberty House in April.

Liberty has spent the last five months rebuilding the workforce and recommissioning equipment at the huge site, which includes the UK’s largest and most versatile plate mill.

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Dalzell is the last major steelworks in Scotland and, over several generations, has provided Britain with the tough steel plate used in industries such as shipbuilding, construction, mining, oil production and heavy vehicle manufacture.

Speaking ahead of the event the First Minister described its revival as ‘a very positive signal that the steel and engineering industries still have a future here in Scotland.’

Jon Bolton, chief executive of Liberty Steel UK Plates & UK Steel Development said: “Restarting this mill only nine months after production was halted has been a tremendous achievement.

“Seeing the plant producing steel plate once again is just reward for all the determination and hard work of the team here at Dalzell. We now intend to ramp production up as quickly as the market will allow.”

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