Saturday, May 27 2006 11:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

La Paz (Bolivia): India's Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is the sole remaining bidder vying for the right to develop Bolivia's largest iron mine after a bid by Netherlands-based Mittal Steel Co. was disqualified, Bolivian government officials said.

Mittal's bid was rejected for not meeting the required conditions, Carlos Villegas, Bolivia's development and planning minister said yesterday.

The mine, located near the Brazilian border, is estimated to hold 40 billion metric tons of iron ore. The deal could earn the poor Andean nation at least US$250 million in exports annually, and employ more than 1,800 people, according to government officials.

The government will make a final decision on awarding the contract Tuesday.

Jindal Steel and Power could invest up to US$1.5 billion in the project over the 40-year life of the contract, Juan Mogrovejo, an adviser for the company, told El Deber newspaper.

The bidding process moved forward after decades of delays, the most recent of which came last December when the outgoing government decided to leave the final bidding decision to the new leftist President Evo Morales.

The Morales administration required the company awarded the contract to not only extract the iron but to industrialize its production into steel using Bolivia's plentiful natural gas, according to Walter Villaroel, Bolivia's mining minister.

The operation could produce up to 5 million tons of steel annually, according to the government.