Global Steel eyes stake in North Korean mines

Pramod Mittal, chairman of privately-held Global Steel Holdings, is negotiating with the North Korean government for a stake in the country's Musan iron ore mines, The Economic Times newspaper reported on Monday.

Global Steel could be negotiating with Pyongyang for development rights to Musan for a fixed period, where Global Steel would do the mining and get to buy an agreed portion of the reserves, the report said citing people familiar with the development.                 

Pramod Mittal, who is the younger sibling of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, had visited North Korea last week to hold talks with senior government officials to work out the procedures for a share of Musan's reserves, the paper said, adding the mines hold an estimated reserves of more than 7 billion tonnes.               

The report, however, quoted Pramod Mittal as saying that the firm was not looking for any stake in Musan and that the visit to North Korea was to "further business interests."