Tata Steel on 12 June 2005 signed a joint venture agreement with Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) to participate in its proposed steel-making projects and mining operations in Iran.

M. Moazenzadeh, Chairman, IMIDRO and B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel signed the agreement in Tehran.

Tata Steel will partner IMIDRO in establishing a 1.5 million tpa steel slab-making facility, a 1.5 million tpa of steel billet-making capacity, and a separate 3 million tpa export-oriented steel plant. The two will also co-develop 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. Phase I of this gas-based steel project would establish a 1.5 million tpa steel slab-making facility, followed by Phase II entailing 1.5 million tpa of steel billet-making capacity.

Further, Tata Steel and IMIDRO will explore and mine unexplored iron ore mines at Gol-e-Gohar mines in the Kerman province of Iran and establish a gas-based pellet plant at Gol-e-Gohar using this ore.

A MoU has also been signed expressing intent to establish a 3 million tpa export-oriented steel plant in two modules of 1.5 million tpa each at PGSEZ in the vicinity of the Hormozgan steel plant.

No details about the proposed investment are available.