Bs Reporter / New Delhi August 19, 2008, 0:13 IST Rio Tinto, the London-based mining group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NMDC, the largest mining company in India, to form an equal joint venture to explore minerals in India and abroad. "We seek to utilise Rio Tinto's global technology, money, processes and reputation to explore new opportunities in mining," said Rana Som, chairman of NMDC, which is also in talks with the London company to import its high smelt technology for iron ore mining in India. "That agreement is likely to be signed in another 15 days," Som said. He did not disclose the likely investments. The two companies will now form a joint working group to search for prospective mining properties and then form a 50:50 joint venture company which will initially go for iron ore mining and later shift to other minerals as well. "We are jointly scouting in Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Globally, there are opportunities in Australia, Brazil and Africa," Som said. NMDC, which is a government-owned company, has already entered into a joint venture agreement with India's Spice Minerals and Metals, a part of the Spice Energy group, is in discussions to acquire iron ore mines in Armenia, Eritera and Congo. NMDC, under the ministry of steel, is involved in exploration of minerals including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, diamond, tin, tungsten among others. The company is the largest iron ore producer and exporter in the country and produces around 30 million tonnes of the mineral annually. It has proven iron ore reserve of 190-200 million tonnes. Keeping pace with the rising demand for steel and the resulting demand for iron ore, the company is planning to increase its annual production through mines to around 50 million tonnes by the end of 2015. Currently, the country's total iron ore reserves stand at about 23 billion tonnes. However, mining is allowed in only half of these reserves. Experts believe that such a move of a global mining major tying up with a domestic player such as NMDC shows increasing interest by overseas companies in the Indian market after the government allowed FDI in mining a couple of years back. "The rising interest of overseas players in the domestic mining sector is driven mainly by the fact that having a domestic partner eases hurdles in obtaining clearances by the government. The domestic partner on the other hand gets the required technological help," said a senior analyst from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He also added that NMDC holds many Indian mining licenses and thus an easier access to properties which overseas players want to leverage upon. About a quarter of NMDC's iron ore production is exported. Currently, the company is seeking up to 97 per cent increase in iron ore prices from foreign steel makers, a move that could have similar repercussions on the domestic market, which may result in higher steel prices. Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group which combines Rio Tinto Plc, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Rio Tinto, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Rio Tinto's business activity includes finding, mining and processing mineral resources. In addition to iron ore, it mainly deals in aluminium, copper, diamond, gold and industrial minerals. The global mining major is active in Australia, North America, Asia, Europe and South Africa.