POSCO says likely to win India iron ore rights by Oct.

SEOUL, Aug 18 (Reuters) POSCO CO. Ltd. , the world's fifth-largest steel maker, may win the rights to a 600-million-tonne iron ore mining lease from the Indian government by October, a company official said on Friday.

The South Korean steel company last year signed a contract to build a billion integrated steel complex in the Indian state of Orissa, the largest single foreign investment in India.

The project will also give it access to the local supply of iron ore over the next 30 years.

''POSCO expects to win permission from the Indian central government by October,'' a spokesperson said by telephone.

Orissa, located on India's east coast, has almost 50 billion tonnes of iron ore resources.

Securing the 600 million tonnes of iron ore would help POSCO counter tight worldwide supplies of the raw material.

In May, POSCO agreed to a 19 percent rise in iron ore prices for 2006 from major iron ore producers after a 71.5 percent increase in the benchmark price in 2005.

REUTERS CS DS1134