PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday announced that it had reached an agreement to divest of its Mozambique coal assets, including the Benga coal mine, in a deal valued at $50-million, to India’s International Coal Ventures Private Limited.
The assets were acquired by Rio as part of its $4.1-billion acquisition of Riversdale Mining, and confirmed recent speculation that the diversified miner was looking for a buyer for the assets, which also included the Tete East and Zambeze projects.
Since the 2011 acquisition of the assets, Rio has had to write down some $3.47-billion on the assets.
Rio said the sale was subject to certain conditions precedent and regulatory approvals.
The transaction was expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.
During the transition to the new owner, Rio would continue to manage the mines to the highest safety and environmental standards. Rio Tinto’s other assets in the country are unaffected by this transaction.