India’s largest steel company by revenues Tata Steel Ltd, through its majority owned JV Tata Steel Minerals Canada Ltd (TSMC), has acquired remaining 49 per cent stake in Howse iron ore deposit in Canada from local partner Labrador Iron Mine Holdings Ltd (LIM) for C$5 million ($4 million), according to a stock market disclosure.
In September 2013, TSMC had formed a 51:49 JV with LIM for the exploration and development of the Howse iron ore deposit in the Schefferville region of the Labrador Trough in Canada. LIM is an iron ore mining, exploration and development company with direct shipping (DSO) iron ore deposits located in the Schefferville/Menihek region of the prolific Labrador Trough.
TSMC itself was created as an 80:20 JV between Tata Steel Ltd and Canadian iron ore company New Millennium Iron Corp in 2010.
This is the second back-to-back overseas activity for Tata Steel. The company has recently offloaded its entire equity stake in Lanka Special Steels Ltd (LSSL) to Sri Lanka-based E B Creasy & Company Plc for LKR 433 million (over Rs 20.4 crore or $3.3 million then).
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)