Tata Steel gets UK nod for coal mining

The company, which has a steel mill in Wales at Port Talbot, might invest in iron-ore assets, she said, without specifying where.

"We currently import all our coal requirements and looking at a number of alternatives," Sarin said. Work to determine the grades of coal at Margam will last as long as a year, she said.

Benchmark coking coal contract prices tripled this year to a record. Global demand for the steelmaking raw material would be 15 million tonnes more than production in 2008, Macquarie Bank said in a report last month. Iron-ore prices have also risen to a record on booming demand from China. Corus hasn't set targets for potential production, Sarin said.

She declined to say how much the company plans to invest.