Asia’s first and India’s largest integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel today signed a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO) to join them in their proposed steel-making projects and mining operations in Iran. Mr. M Moazenzadeh, Chairman of IMIDRO, Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel today signed the agreements in a ceremony at the IMIDRO office in Tehran.

Tata Steel would partner them in establishing a 1.5 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) steel slab making facility, a 1.5 mtpa of steel billet making capacity, a separate 3 mtpa export oriented steel plant and in exploration & mining of unexplored iron ore mines.

Tata Steel would partner IMIDRO in the ongoing Hormozgan Steel project, which would 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 would establish a 1.5 mtpa steel slab making facility, which would be followed by the second phase to establish 1.5 mtpa of steel billet making capacity.

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

IMIDRO and Tata Steel also signed a MoU expressing Tata Steel’s intent to establish a separate 3-mtpa export oriented steel plant in two modules of 1.5 mtpa each at PGSEZ in Bandar Abbas in the vicinity of the Hormozgan steel plant.

Mr. B. Muthuraman Managing Director, Tata Steel said, “Iran with its rich steel making inputs and quality infrastructure can become one of the favourable steel making locations. Tata Steel has, after due consideration and evaluation, decided to move ahead with its proposed projects in Iran. Owing to favourable factors in terms of production, the envisaged steelplants would emerge to be amongst the lowest cost producers of steel in the world. Tata Steel will bring to this project the same work philosophy, culture, efficiency and ethics, for which it is renowned world over for nearly 100 years and is recognised as one of the most efficient steel producers in the world.”

Established in 1907 by its Founder J N Tata, Tata Steel is the flagship of Tata Group, the most trusted corporate name in India. It has one of the most modern steel making facilities and is also one of the lowest cost producers of steel in the world. Tata Steel is focused on the sophisticated automobile and the construction sector. It currently produces 5 million tonnes of steel per annum at its Jamshedpur plant and has recently invested in NatSteel Asia, which has a capacity of about 2 million tonnes per annum of finished steel. It has set benchmarks in corporate social responsibility and corporate governance, it believes in improving the quality of life of its employees and the communities it serves.