India's Tata Steel will mine iron ore in Arctic Canada, a top company official said Tuesday.

Tata Steel managing director H.M. Nerurkar said the feasibility study for the iron ore projects in Arctic Canada would be ready by October and it would be prepared in the next couple of months.

The two projects - LabMag and Kemag - are crucial for Tata Steel Europe's raw material security. At present, Tata Steel's European operations do not enjoy the benefit of a captive iron ore source.

The Canadian taconite (a form of magnetite ore) projects are being developed by Tata Steel Minerals Canada Ltd (TSMC). It is a 80:20 joint venture between Tata Steel and Canada-listed New Millennium Iron Corporation (NML). TSMC, which is developing iron ore deposits in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, has undertaken the feasibility study, in collaboration with NML.

The LabMag and Kemag iron ore deposits form a part of the 150- km long Millennium Iron Range in northern Canada. Nerurkar said beneficiation of the taconite deposits in the proposed projects would not be a problem, but the logistics of bringing the beneficiated ore to the designated eastern Canadian port was an issue of fiscal and infrastructural importance.

The proven and probable estimated reserve of the LabMag and Kemag projects put together is 5.6 billion tonnes. TSMC is also pursuing another iron ore project, aimed to feed Tata Steel, in Canada. Called the direct shipping ore (DSO) project, it involves mining, crushing, washing, screening and shipping the sinter fines and pellet fines to Tata Steel's European steel-making facilities.