Tata Steel in talks to buy Canada coal mines

Tata Steel, the world's No 7 steelmaker, is in talks to buy coking coal mines in western Canada, the Business Standard reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed official close to the development.

Tata Steel had started talks with the government of British Columbia, a Canadian province, to acquire coal mines, the newspaper said, adding Tata officials and ministers of the province met in Canada two weeks ago.

"The ministers made a proposal to sell virgin coking coal mines and Tata Steel is fairly interested," the paper quoted the unnamed official as saying.

The British Columbian government is "very keen" on Tata Steel investing in the province, it cited another unnamed official close to the talks as saying.

The paper said Tata Steel did not comment.