It was unclear what stake JFE was seeking or what price it was offering.
Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T) has previously said it was looking to buy a 10% stake in Teck's coal business for C$1.15 billion, valuing the overall business at about C$11.5 billion, with an option of increasing its stake to 17.5%.
Glencore has said it will consider buying the coal business for about $8.5 billion.
JFE Steel holds 15% equity in India's JSW Steel (JSTL.NS), which was also exploring an investment in Teck's coal business.
Price said the company had two options -- a 100% sale of the coal business for cash or a partial sale of the coal business, with proceeds going to growing the copper business.
Persons:
Chris Helgren, Glencore, Major steelmakers, Teck, JFE, Jonathan Price, Price, Divya Rajagopal, Neha Arora, Denny Thomas, Nick Zieminski, Rod Nickel
Organizations:
Teck Resources, Developers Association of Canada, REUTERS, Rights, JFE Steel Corp, Canada's Teck Resources, Reuters, Japan's Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, JSW, Thomson
Locations:
Teck, Toronto , Ontario, Canada, Canada's Teck, Russia, JFE, Tokyo, Australia, Swiss, Toronto, India