POSCO, Vale seek to develop coal mine in Mozambique

POSCO, the world's No 3 steelmaker, said on Sunday that it has agreed with Brazilian miner Vale to jointly seek to develop a coal mine in Mozambique.

The move comes as the South Korean firm plans to raise its resource self-sufficiency. The coal mine, located in Tete, Mozambique, would be able to produce 11 million tonnes of coals annually, which will be used as raw materials or for power generation, POSCO said in a statement. It did not elaborate how much each company would invest. POSCO, which aims to double raw material self-sufficiency to 50% by 2014, has earmarked 700 billion won (USD 627.4 million) in raw material investment this year, its chief executive Chung Joon-yang said earlier this month. POSCO has also said it agreed with Cameroon to jointly develop iron ore in Mbalam in a project that would be able to produce 35 million tonne of the key steelmaking ingredient from 2014. In Zimbabwe, POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding with Anchor to build a joint mining venture to develop chrome, coal and other raw materials.