MORE than half the workforce at the country's oldest chromium plant are expected to be made redundant today.

Elementis Chromium announced in October it was cutting 120 jobs and closing one of the kilns at its Urlay Nook site in Eaglescliffe, near Yarm, Teesside.

Throughout the 90-day consultation period, unions have held meetings with Elementis bosses, and enlisted the support of Teesside MP Dari Taylor in a bid to save some of the jobs.

However, the Transport and General Workers (T&G) and Amicus unions said that, despite their best efforts, Elementis had remained firm in its resolve to close a kiln and shed more than half its workforce of 230.

Joe Keith, of the T&G, said: "Despite our hard work, the company has not changed any of its original proposals.

"We have done everything possible, but after the firm announced to the stock exchange in October that this was going to happen it was just too difficult to change their plans. Every proposal we put forward we were told didn't meet the criteria and couldn't sustain profits. We are terribly disappointed."

The multi-national, which is made up of four divisions, blamed high raw material and energy costs for continued losses at its Teesside plant.

David Raw, Elementis technical director, said workers given redundancy notices would work until March 31, when the kiln will close.

He was yesterday unable to give the official number of job losses, but said: "We have reached a mutual understanding with the unions and representatives. The process of consultation has been exhausted on all the topics and nothing further can be gained."