Tata Steel consortium to invest in Oz mine

New Delhi, May 7: World's fifth largest steel producer Tata Steel, in a consortium, will pump in a capital investment of 401 million Australian dollars for undertaking a large scale expansion of the Carborough Downs Coal Mine near Moranbah in Australia.

Carborough Downs, an underground mine, is operated by Carborough Downs Coal Management Pty Ltd. The mine has a 80 per cent stake of a consortium of Brazilian company Vale, while Tata Steel, Nippon Steel Corporation and POSCO own five per cent stake each. JFE Steel and JFE Shoji hold 2.5 per cent stake each in the mine.

''This investment shall ensure 4.9 million tonnes of annual production of ROM to yield 3.7 million tonnes of Coking Coal and PCI Coal from third quarter of 2009,'' company said in a statement.

The construction will commence this month and commissioning of the large scale and new mining equipment (Longwall), which will be one of the largest in Australia, is expected by mid-2009.

''This decision on expansion of production gives Tata Steel an opportunity to explore larger areas for coal deposits which will be a potential source to meet part of the company's raw material requirement and enhance the long term competitiveness of its global operations,'' the statement said.

Carborough Downs Coal Mine started its production in August 2006 as one of the new coking coal projects in the State of Queensland, in Australia.

UNI