MOTHERWELL, Scotland (Reuters) - Britain's largest steel plate mill reopens under owner Liberty Steel on Wednesday, a deal brokered by a Scottish government keen to stem the decline of its industrial heartland.
Liberty bought the Dalzell plant in Motherwell and its sister works at Clydebridge in Glasgow from Tata Steel (NS:TISC) for a symbolic sum in April this year, with the Scottish government underpinning the process and no value disclosed.
The pro-independence Scottish government wants to avoid mistakes made when such industries were dismantled under nationwide governments in London, with deep social, political and economic consequences such as at Ravenscraig, just down the road from Dalzell.
The fate of Dalzell, with its distinctive blue water tower, contrasts sharply with that of Port Talbot in South Wales at the other end of Britain, a steel mill employing 4,000 workers and in limbo awaiting Tata Steel's decision on its future.
With fears of job losses as Britain moves to leave the European Union and North Sea oil in decline, Scotland's government has tried to defend some segments of industry, particularly steel.
But the Edinburgh government was absent from the event staged by chemicals giant Ineos on Tuesday marking the first arrival in Britain of fracked U.S. shale gas, which Ineos says supports manufacturing jobs.
Scotland has a fracking moratorium but is under public pressure to ban it outright despite the jobs it would bring, because of fears of environmental damage. Fracking has the support of the government in the rest of Britain.
Sanjeev Gupta, chairman of Liberty, is reopening the Dalzell works with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and two other Scottish ministers in what he calls a first step in a "greensteel" strategy for a competitive, low-carbon and sustainable steel industry.
Sturgeon said earlier this year that the Liberty purchase showed "with the right support and a strong government there can be a future for steel."
Liberty has spent months preparing to reactivate Dalzell's furnace and rolling mill to produce 150,000 tonnes of steel plate -- for use in heavy industry such as oil, shipbuilding and infrastructure. It hopes to increase that to up to 500,000 tonnes eventually, employing 200 people.
Britain currently consumes 700,000 tonnes per year of plate steel, increasing at around three percent annually.