International industrial and metals group Liberty House has announced that it will today, October 4, officially re-activate the small bloom caster at the Liberty Speciality Steels’ Aldwarke works in Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, UK, more than 18 months after it was mothballed by previous owners during the steel crisis.
According to Liberty, recommissioning this key piece of equipment, and an associated coiler at the neighboring Thrybergh mill, has already created 64 new jobs with a further 150 to come over the next six months, as production from the revamped caster increases dramatically to provide more high-grade steel bar for automotive and engineering components in the UK and beyond.
Liberty purchased the 1,700-worker Speciality Steels business from Tata Steel UK in May this year and began an initial £20 million investment program to boost output by repairing and upgrading mothballed machinery, adding new equipment and generating a total of 300 new jobs. The business, which is an important supplier of steel for the global aerospace and oil and gas industries, includes major sites at Stocksbridge and Rotherham, as well as processing and service centers in Lancashire, the West Midlands, and in China.