The Indian steel producer Tata Steel and Brazilian iron ore giant Vale, along with other joint venture partners, have announced that they will invest AU$401 million in the expansion of the Carborough Downs Coal Mine.
Carborough Downs is an underground mine situated near Moranbah in Central Queensland in Australia, and is operated by Carborough Downs Coal Management Pty Ltd. The mine is 80 percent owned by Vale, while its joint venture partners own the remaining 20 percent; of the latter Tata Steel holds five percent, Nippon Steel Corporation also owns five percent, as does POSCO, JFE Steel has 2.5 percent and JFE Shoji holds 2.5 percent.
Construction work is planned to commence in May 2008. In addition, large scale and new mining equipment is expected to start operating by mid-2009. The investment should secure 4.9 million metric tons of annual production of ROM (‘run of mine') material to produce about 3.7 million metric tons of coking coal and PCI coal starting from the third quarter of 2009.
The investment is inline with Tata's strategy directed toward securing raw material supplies for its global business, thereby enhancing its competitiveness. With its investment in this project, Tata Steel will have the opportunity to explore larger areas for coking coal deposits.