Indian steel producer Tata Steel Limited is on schedule to shut down the second of its two blast furnaces at its Port Talbot steel mill by September this year, a company official said on Thursday, August 1.
“In the UK, we have safely ceased operation of one of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot and are on track to close the second remaining blast furnace by September,” T. V. Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel, said in a statement.
The closure of the blast furnaces and associated assets is critical to arresting the cash burn at the UK operations, company chief financial officer Koushik Chatterjee said in the same statement.
“We are working closely with the recently-elected UK government on finalization of the grant funding process for the new electric arc furnace project,” Chatterjee said.
The company had reached an agreement with the previous Rishi Sunak-led Tory government for a £500 million grant to fund the £1.25 billion transition.