The plant has provided steel for the World Trade Centre site

Corus says it is axing 98 posts at its beam mill plant, which has provided replacement columns for the World Trade Centre site in New York.

The company says it plans to invest more than �4m in the Lackenby site, which employs 517 people, but that modernisation will require job losses.

The company recently signed a deal to secure hundreds of jobs at a neighbouring slab steel facility.

'Regrettable' decision

Andrew Page, managing director of Corus Construction & Industrial, said: "Today's announcement to invest in the Teesside beam mill is extremely good news for the mill.

"We will work closely with the trade unions and our employees to mitigate the impact of the job reductions as much as possible."

A spokesman for the trade union Community, which represents Corus workers, said the redundancies were "regrettable".

But he added that the �4.4m investment would help to safeguard the long-term future of the remaining 400 workers at Lackenby.

In December, Corus signed an agreement with a consortium of re-rolling companies to supply slab from its Redcar plant for 10 years.

In 2003 the company announced it no longer needed slab steel from Redcar, casting doubt on the future of the site and about 1,700 jobs.