Tata Steel - SAIL & Tata Steel form JV for coal mining in India

Tata Steel Ltd has informed that the Company has signed a JV Agreement with the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), for coal mining activities in India.

In this regard the Company has issued the following Press Release:

"Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tata Steel Ltd (Tata Steel) signed an agreement at New Delhi on January 03, 2008 to establish a 50:50 joint venture Company (JVC) for coal mining in India. The joint venture agreement was signed by Mr. S K Roongta, Chairman, SAIL, and Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel in the presence of other senior executives from both Companies.

The JVC will identify, acquire and develop coal blocks in India. Four suitable medium coking coal blocks in the State of Jharkhand with reserves of around 600 million tonnes are under evaluation for this purpose by a joint working group of SAIL and Tata Steel. On allotment of the blocks, the JVC will develop and carry out mining operations for the captive use by SAIL and Tata Steel. Both the Companies are expanding their steel making capacities and require secure sources of key raw material inputs like coking coal.

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Roongta said: "As India's steel industry enters a high and sustainable growth phase, raw material availability has assumed critical importance. In order to ensure security of coking coal supplies, it is imperative to augment indigenous coking coal availability. With both SAIL and Tata Steel having distinct strengths in coal mining, this JVC will generate synergy to ensure security of coking coal supplies for both partners."

On his part, Mr. Muthuraman stated: "India has very limited reserves of hard and semi soft coking coal. With the Indian steel industry poised for a robust growth, it is imperative for us to utilise this scarce resource in the best possible manner. Both SAIL and Tata Steel have unique strengths and capabilities and we see a strong case to synergise these complementary strengths through this joint venture."