NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--India's Tata Steel Ltd. (500470.BY)...

NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--India's Tata Steel Ltd. (500470.BY) Friday said it has signed a pact with Australia's Riversdale Mining Ltd. (RIV.AU) to buy a 35% equity stake in a Mozambique coal project for A$100 million.
According to the pact, Tata Steel will be a strategic investor in Riversdale's Mozambique coal project, the Indian company said in a joint statement with Riversdale
Mining.
The Mozambique coal project includes premium hard coking coal deposits in Benga and Tete, located in the Tete province in Mozambique, which are fully owned by Riversdale through its unit, the statement said.
"This partnership gives Tata Steel an opportunity to jointly explore part of a large coal basin which could prove to be a potential source to meet part of the raw
material requirement and enhance the long-term competitiveness of the global operations," Tata Steel Managing Director B. Muthuraman said in the statement.
"Tata Steel is an ideal strategic partner for Riversdale, and offer our shareholders the most efficient way to realize value from the development of Riversdale's projects," Michael O'Keeffe, chief executive and chairman of Riversdale said in the statement.

-By Abhrajit Gangopadhyay; Dow Jones Newswires; 91 9831241778; [email protected]
-Edited by Alpana Sarma

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 03, 2007 08:51 ET (12:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Friday 03 August 2007 22:51:23:950 AEST