JSW Steel acquires 8 mining blocks in Chile

JSW Steel, through its Netherlands based wholly-owned subsidiary, has acquired 8 greenfield mining concessions in the Atacama region in North Chile for a total consideration of $52 million.

According to an official release issued by the company to the BSE today, the concessions, which extend over an area of approximately 1200 hectares, are for exploration and exploitation of magnetite iron ore deposits.

Commenting on the acquisition, Sajjan Jindal, vice chairman, JSW Steel, said: "These mines are expected to have good quality magnetite iron ore deposits located near the Pacific coast facilitating shipment of ore at competitive cost. It acts as a natural hedge against high cost iron ore procured from third parties in India once these mines are operationalised".

The company is hopeful of concluding the forging of a joint venture to develop various iron ore mining projects in South America which is currently under negotiation, Jindal added.

The company has been actively pursuing augmenting captive sources of iron ore and coal both in India and overseas for its domestic steel making operations.