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The fall-out from the decision to close the blast furnace at the Redcar steelworks continues.

But some are talking of a saviour for the business.

The Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon says he and the town's football club owner Steve Gibson have been approached by the consortium within the last fortnight.

I'm told by our Business Correspondent Ian Reeve that it's led by Jon Moulton.

He's a venture capitalist who was part of .

He's recently left Alchemy and .

Its aim is to invest in and turn round ailing companies, so Corus in Redcar certainly fits the bill.

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Ray Mallon certainly believes they are credible bidders, even if a lot of work would still need to be done to secure a deal.

He wants the Government to step in to keep the furnace going for 90 more days to give it a chance of succeeding.

But as reported yesterday, Corus believes mothballing the furnace wouldn't prevent a sale as it could be re-activated quite quickly.

Meanwhile, the trade union Unite has echoed some of the criticism made by Stockton South MP Dari Taylor yesterday.

They've questioned whether owner Corus is really serious about selling the site.

The union says it's aware of serious offers that have been made to save the Redcar works. But they say they've all been turned down "out of hand" by the company.

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Corus of course continues to insist it is open to offers and wants to sell.

An important moment then for Lord Mandelson to arrive in the region tomorrow in what promises to be a lively day politically.

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