Corus in talks over sale of Cast Products plant.

CORUS is talking to new potential buyers for the Teesside Cast Products operation, the company has confirmed.

The future of 2,000 jobs at TCP has been at risk since a consortium of buyers walked out on an agreement with the site in May.

Consortium members Italian Marcegaglia and South Korean Dongkuk also made a bid to buy TCP in February - with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) still in place until Tuesday.

Recently Marcegaglia and Dongkuk released

Corus from a gagging clause, which prevented it from talking to other potential buyers while a MOU was still in place, and Corus today confirmed talks, but would not say who the potential buyers were.

Corus chief executive Kirby Adams said coming up with another buyer in the next 60 days - when a 90-day consultation at the site comes to an end - was "a long shot". Efforts are continuing to bring the consortium and Corus back to the table for further talks.

A spokeswoman for the consortium today said: "The priority for the consortium members remains that conditions be reached for constructive dialogue with the offtake consortium as a whole regarding possible new commercial solutions at TCP." On Thursday, Corus announced it was axing 2,000 jobs across the UK with 428 jobs to go across the Tees Valley.

The announcement was a further hit for Redcar and Cleveland with 150 posts to go at the Teesside Beam Mill at Lackenby and 113 jobs at Skinningrove..

Redcar and Cleveland Council believes the cuts will add up to the "borough's biggest challenge" since the unitary authority was formed 12 years ago. Councillor Mark Hannon said: "Communities across Redcar and Cleveland are going to be devastated and it is up to us to pick them up.

" It's also our job to convince the public we have the regeneration plans in place to take the borough forward. And I'm sure we do." * See page 7 for a report on how job cuts in Skinningrove will affect the community..