Karaikudi: Non-ferrous metals major Vedanta Resources is in talks with three steel companies from Japan, Europe and India to be its partner for its proposed entry into steelmaking. The London-based Vedanta's chairperson Anil Agarwal said the group is even open to offering a majority stake in the venture to the new partner who would be bringing in the technology for making steel. The steel venture would mark Vedanta's foray into ferrous metals. The $5 billion Vedanta, which is a major player in aluminium, zinc and copper, has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orissa government for the steel project. The proposed 5-million tonne per annum steel project would come up in Orissa's Keonjhar district with an estimated investment of Rs 7000-8000 crore. The steel venture would be a forward integration for the group, which bought a controlling stake in iron ore miner Sesa Goa in April last year. Agarwal, who was in Karaikudi (about 550 km from Chennai) for laying the foundation stone for group company Sterlite Industries' Rs 100 crore aluminium fluoride plant, however, declined to name the companies with which his group is in talks. Sesa Goa produces about 10 million tonnes of iron ore in Goa, Karnataka and Orissa, a majority of which is exported to China, Europe and Japan. Incidentally, Vedanta had bought the Sesa Goa stake from Japan's Mitsui Corporation Agarwal said that the group has submitted its proposal to acquire the centre's balance stake in Bharat Aluminium Company and Hindustan Zinc. It plans to buy out the government's 49% and 27% stake in these two companies respectively. The buyout, if completed, would cost Vedanta an estimated Rs 10,000 crore. In June last year, the group had raised Rs 9,000 crore through ADRs. The group would also expand Sesa Goa's shipping business besides making a strong presence in shipbuilding, port handling and logistics with a proposed investment of $200-300 million, Agarwal said. Vedanta would invest an estimated $8 billion in the country by 2010, of which $3.5 billion has already been committed, he said. The balance would be invested in the next 2-3 years. These investments, however, do not include its proposed foray into steel making. About 70% of the investments would be in aluminium and power generation. The remaining 30% would be in copper and zinc. The group aims to take its total capacity in the three non-ferrous metals (aluminium, zinc and copper) to a million tonnes each. The group plans to build coal-based power plants that would have a capacity to generate 10,000 mw. The power produced would be sold to the grids.