THOUSANDS of steelworkers got an early Christmas present yesterday with the announcement that Corus has secured the future of its Teesside operation for the next decade.

The ten-year deal to supply a consortium of overseas companies ends nearly two years of uncertainty for 1,700 workers at the steel group's Redcar plant.

Bosses at the Teesside site - whose survival was thrown into doubt last year when restructuring left it surplus to the company's requirements - said the future was now in their own hands.

The agreement will also help to safeguard an extra 4,000 jobs in the region, part of the steelmaker's wider supply chain.

Managing director Colin Muncie said: "This is great news for everyone. There has been a huge amount of work put in here in the last year to prove we could stand on our own two feet and this announcement has vindicated that hard work."

The consortium, which includes Swiss steel trader Duferco, Italian company Marcegaglia and the Imsa Group from Mexico, will take three-quarters of the plant's output. It will also pay out about £35m towards improvements which are needed at the plant.

Staff at the steelworks said they were 'buzzing' after a long period of uncertainty following a restructuring move last year.

That shake-up left the Teesside operation cast adrift from the main Corus business.

Roland Gell, 40, a blast furnace worker, said: "I've worked here for 24 years and its been up and down all the while, but this time we really thought the site was going to close.

"So you can imagine how everyone is feeling now - we're just buzzing from the news."

Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus had planned to cease taking steel from the site in 2006 when the Redcar operation, known as Teesside Cast Products (TCP), was expected to survive on its own in the global market.

Under the new deal 74 per cent of production will go to the consortium and the rest will be taken by Corus's other operations.

Redcar MP Vera Baird said the deal meant a booming steel industry had been secured in the region for years to come.

North-East business leaders and development agencies also welcomed the deal.

Yesterday's announcement ends a dramatic period for the Teesside plant, which changed its name to Corus following the merger of British Steel and Dutch firm Hoogovens in 1999.

It then racked up losses totalling £1bn and axed thousands of jobs.

However, a huge rise in the price of steel on the worldwide market, helped by high demand from China, changed its fortunes and in September this year Corus announced profits for the first time in its history.