A Teesside blast furnace has set a new production record.

Staff at Redcar Blast Furnace, in east Cleveland, broke the previous record by producing 67,117 tonnes of metal in one week.

During that week, the record was also broken for the amount produced in one day - 9,771 tonnes on Saturday, February 12.

This is the equivalent of about 15,000 minis being produced by the furnace in 24 hours. Ian Gofton, manager at Redcar Blast Furnace, said: "This is a huge achievement for the blast furnace.

"It builds on the recent success of the 95 days' uninterrupted production record set in December last year.

"We are very proud of our achievement."

Corus is one of the world's largest metal producers, with an annual turnover of £8bn.

It has major operating facilities in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway and Belgium, and employs 48,500 workers in more than 40 countries worldwide.

Thousands of jobs at Corus were saved last year following the announcement of a ten-year agreement in December.

The move ended nearly two years of uncertainty for 1,700 workers at the Redcar plant and helped safeguard about 4,500 more jobs across the region.