Russian coal and steel producer Evraz Group to unite with Japan's Mitsui

Russia's biggest coal and steel producer, Evraz Group, said it would create a joint venture with Japan's Mitsui to develop a large coking coal field in eastern Siberia.

Under the terms of the agreement announced Tuesday, Mitsui will take a 30 percent stake in the Denisovskoye project in Yakutia. The field's reserves of hard coking coal are estimated at 70 million to 85 million metric tons, according to Evraz.

Evraz said it expects the field to produce about 2.4 million metric tons a year by 2008, and added that it expects to sell the output to steelmakers in the Far East, notably in Japan.