SAIL is set to acquire 30 per cent strategic stake in Canada-based coal mines, Wolverine Coalfield. The company is in an advance stage of negotiations with Western Canadian Coal Corporation (WCCC) to pick up a stake in its mines located in the North-East British Columbia.

The WCCC has offered SAIL a 20-30 per cent stake in the coalfield. The acquisition would help the company reduce its dependence on imported coal. At present, SAIL imports almost 80 per cent of its coking coal requirement of 15 million tonnes annually, although the acquisition would only reduce about one-third of coking coal imports of the company.

The WCCC's Wolverine Coal Project has reserves of over 30 million tonnes of hard coking coal. The annual coal production from the project is three million tonnes. Besides, SAIL is also eying two coal properties in Australia: Millennium Coal Mines (Queensland) and Anglo Coal. SAIL plans to invest over Rs 37,000 crore to increase its steel production to 22 million tonnes by 2010.