Tata Steel in big Iran push

In joint venture with Iranian mining body.

Tata Steel today signed a joint venture agreement with the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO) for proposed steel-making projects and mining operations in Iran.

Tata Steel will partner the IMIDRO in establishing a 1.5 million tonne steel slab-making facility, a 1.5 million tonne steel billet-making capacity, a separate 3 million tonne export-oriented steel plant and in the mining of unexplored iron ore.

Tata Steel will join the IMIDRO in the ongoing Hormozgan Steel project, which will establish steel-making operations in the Persian Gulf Special Economic Zone (PGSEZ) at the port city of Bandar Abbas.

The first phase of this gas-based steel project will establish a 1.5 million tonne steel slab-making facility, which will be followed by the second phase to establish a 1.5 million tonne billet-making capacity.

In a separate venture, Tata Steel will partner the IMIDRO in mining unexplored iron ore at the Gol-e-Gohar mines in Kerman province of Iran and will establish a gas-based pellet plant at Gol-e-Gohar using this ore.

The IMIDRO and Tata Steel also signed a memorandum of understanding expressing Tata Steel's intent to establish a separate 3 million tonne export-oriented steel plant in two modules of 1.5 million tonnes each at Bandar Abbas in the vicinity of the Hormozgan steel plant.

The agreement was signed by M Moazenzadeh, chairman of the IMIDRO, and B Muthuraman, managing director of Tata

Steel, in a ceremony at the IMIDRO office in Tehran.

Muthuraman said in a statement: "Iran with its rich steel-making inputs and quality infrastructure can become a favourable steel-making location. Tata Steel has, after due consideration and evaluation, decided to move ahead wit h its proposed projects in Iran. Owing to favourable factors in terms of production, the envisaged steel plants will be amongst the lowest-cost producers of steel in the world."

Tata Steel is simultaneously beefing up capacity in the domestic market. Last week, the company signed an MoU with the Chhattisgarh government for setting up a 5 million tonne plant.

Further, there is an existing MoU with the Orissa government for setting up a 6 million tonne plant and the company will also add another 2.4 million tonnes at its Jamshedpur plant. The company also plans to set up a 2.4 million tonne steel plant in Bangladesh and is in discussions with the government of Bangladesh for the purpose.

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On the menu

Tata Steel and the IMIDRO will establish steel-making operations at Bandar Abbas. The first phase of this gas-based project will see a 1.5 mt steel slab-making plant. In the second phase, a 1.5 mt billet-making unit will be set up

The partners will mine iron ore at the Gol-e-Gohar mines in Kerman province and will establish a pellet plant at Gol-e-Gohar.

A 3 mt export-oriented steel plant in two modules of 1.5 mt each will come up at Bandar Abbas