"Tata Steel has expressed interest to invest in Western Australia's iron ore sector," Eric Ripper, Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister of State Development, Government of Western Australia, said.
When contacted, a Tata Steel official said that it was only logical for Tata Steel to look for iron ore mines in Western Australia since this region has huge reserves.
The sixth largest steel producers in the world with 28.1 million tonne of annual capacity, Tata Steel is also looking for iron ore mines in South Africa and Australia among other geographies, the company had earlier said.
The company also has plans to set up a company overseas for consolidating its raw material assets and raise funds in the next six to 12 months for acquisitions.
Western Australia is a global supplier of minerals and petroleum products. Export from here stood at $53.4 billion (Aus) in 2006-07. Iron ore was the second highest contributor to that kitty at $15.8 billion (Aus), preceded by petroleum at $16.4 billion (Aus).
The Indian operation of Tata Steel is one of the lowest cost producers of steel having access to captive iron ore and coal mines. But, it does not export iron ore at all to Corus which does not have a single captive iron ore mine.
