State-owned NMDC today said it was in discussion with the Western Australian government to acquire an iron ore mine for the first time outside the country. The company will be looking for an Australian joint venture partner for the project. Chairman and Managing Director Rana Som met Western Australia's Minister for Regional Development Doug Cunningham in Delhi recently and expressed the company's intention to acquire an iron ore mine. When contacted, Som said: "Talks are at an initial stage and I have requested the minister that he has to help us out on various issues, like getting a right partner and so on". Som said NMDC would like to have a "hand-holding" partner, be it a public or private player, to invest in Western Australia as its experience comes handy on several matters. Asked whether NMDC would like to have majority stake in the venture, Som said, "These issues are to be discussed later. So many things are so unknown today!". "Investment in a green field project in western Australia could be around one billion Aus-tralian Dollars, but it could go up more depending upon the size and the reserves of the mine," a source close to the development said. In 2007-08, iron ore was the largest export item for Western Australia estimated at 20 billion Australian Dollars or 29.1 per cent of the total exports. Petroleum accounted for 9.2 billion Australian Dollars or 13.3 per cent of the total exports for the year. Total investment in the mining industry during the year i was around 17.1 I billion, up by 27 per cent from 2006-07. Iron ore and petroleum together accounted for 68 per cent of the total value of Western Australia's resources industry in 2007-08 which is pegged at 58.6 billion Australian Dollars. NMDC had sold 26.47 million tonnes of iron ore in 2008-09 as compared to 28.18 million tonnes in the previous fiscal. Total exports were 3.87 million tonnes in FY'09, up 2.54 per cent over 2007-0^ at 3.77 million tonnes.