The UK's Tata blast furnaces will be idled

In a statement, the India-based Tata Sons conglomerate's business subsidiary, Tata Steel UK Ltd., announced that it will proceed with its plan to install recycling-based electric arc furnace (EAF) technology and idle its blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) capacity.

While its capacity to mine coal has been declining for decades, the United Kingdom has long been a nation with a surplus of ferrous scrap. According to Tata Steel UK, the goal of this plan is to turn around almost ten years of losses and move away from blast furnaces and towards a more environmentally friendly, sustainable steel industry.

A provisional deal to fund and complete the BOF-to-EAF transition was reached last September as a result of talks including Tata Steel UK, the U.K. government, and labour unions present at the BOF mills.

"The plans follow detailed discussions with the U.K. multi-trade union representative body (UK Steel Committee) and its advisors, in which Tata Steel carefully considered their endorsed proposal for maintaining a single blast furnace," reads the company's most recent release outlining its intentions. Tata Steel has agreed to accept some of the idea after giving it some thought, but they believe that continuing to produce blast furnaces is not practical or cost-effective.

According to the corporation, as part of its aim to restructure and reform its U.K. operations, it will now "commence statutory consultation.It is anticipated that up to 2,800 workers might be impacted, with about 2,500 of those roles likely to be affected in the upcoming 18 months.