Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the French government sought a last-ditch solution today on the eve of the expiry of his deadline to the state to find a new buyer for a plant it has threatened to nationalise.A number of scenarios were evoked and media reports wereawash with names that could take control of the Florange plant in the eastern Lorraine region, where two blast furnaces have been closed by ArcelorMittal as it seeks to react to sagging demand for steel.The two sides were said to be seeking a compromise in which ArcelorMittal gets to shut the two furnaces if it guarantees that the 650 workers whose jobs are on the line are redeployed.An informed source told AFP without giving any details that between the two hypotheses, a third way is being sought. France's Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg meanwhile met with workers from the plant who have been camping outside his office to declare that President Francois Hollande would take a final decision on nationalisation.He underscored that this option was "not a false hope but a solution that is serious, credible and lasting." The world's largest steelmaker, which wants to continue to operate the rest of the Florange site, has given the government until tomorrow to find a new investor willing to take over the furnaces.As the deadline approached, there was feverish media speculation on who the interested party could be.