The Economic Times of India says that India’s Global Steel Holdings is in talks with North Korea to acquire a stake in the communist country’s Musan iron ore mines.

North’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) also said April first that Pramod Mittal, head of the Indian steel giant, visited North Korea late last month and met with North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il.

However, the KCNA did not elaborate on the details of the discussions between the two.

A senior researcher at the U.S. Institute of Peace says China and India are in desperate need of iron ore and that North Korea may be seeking to increase its profit and reduce its risks by introducing an open competition system to select the developers of its mines.