Tata Steel today signed agreements to buy a 5% interest in the Carborough Downs Coal Project located in Queensland, Australia. Mr. Brian MacDonald, Managing Director, AMCI Australia Pty Ltd, Dr. T Mukherjee, Dy Managing Director (Steel), Tata Steel and Mr. A. D. Baijal, Vice President (Raw Materials), Tata Steel signed the agreements, today, in Jamshedpur.

Tata Steel has ambitious plans to grow by setting up greenfield plants or acquiring capacities in India and overseas, which is in keeping with its long term vision and strategy.

The Carborough Downs coal project is majority owned and operated by a subsidiary of AMCI Holdings Australia Pty Ltd. AMCI International AG, the apex holding company of AMCI Holdings Australia Pty Ltd., is a large global producer, shipper and trader of high-grade metallurgical coal. Carborough Downs is an undeveloped underground coking coal project with production scheduled to commence in year 2006. It is located in Bowen Basin in central Queensland. The project life is currently estimated to have a life of 14 years and approximately 58 million tonnes of raw coal is expected to be mined during this period. There is a further potential resource of 100 Million tonnes of raw coal in the unexplored areas and deeper seams. The clean coal envisaged to be produced will be low-ash coking coal and PCI coal, highly suitable for steel making.

Tata Steel also signed an offtake agreement for a proportion of the production over life of the project.

Established in 1907 by its Founder J N Tata, Tata Steel is one of the flagship companies of the 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. 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. The Company has plans to establish the steel manufacturing units in Iran and Bangladesh. In India, Tata Steel has also signed Memorandum of Understandings with the Government of Orissa and Chhattisgarh for putting up a steel plant in each state. The Company has been ranked first (for the second time) among World Class Steel Companies by World Steel Dynamics based on its annual listing in June 2005.

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