Anglo American to buy majority stake in Mozambique’s Revuboe coal for $555 mn
25 Jul 2012
Diversified miner, Anglo American today said that it will buy a majority stake in the Revuboe metallurgical coal project in Mozambique from Australia's Talbot Estate, for A$540 million ($555 million).
The London-based miner will buy a 58.9 per cent stake the Revuboè metallurgical coal project - a joint venture partnership that includes Japan's Nippon Steel with 33.3 per cent stake and South Korean steel giant POSCO with 7.8 per cent.
The Revuboè project has reported reserves of 1.4 billion tonnes of hard coking and thermal coal suitable for open cut mining, with the potential to export six to nine million tonnes per annum.
Revuboè is located in the promising but underdeveloped area of Mozambique's Moatize coal basin, where Brazilian mining giant Vale and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto are already present.
''The acquisition of a majority interest in Revuboè is in line with our strategic commitment to grow our global metallurgical coal business to supply our customers from each of the key metallurgical coal supply regions of Australia, Canada and Mozambique,'' said Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo American.
Mining tycoon, Ken Talbott, one of Australia's richest men and the founder of Australia's Macarthur Coal, died in a plane crash in Congo, central Africa with 10 other mining executives in June 2010.
His estate has since been put on the block and his 16 per cent stake in Sundance Resources was sold in March for about $190 million to Hanlong Mining.
The Talbot Group owns stakes in several other mining ventures in Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
His personal worth was estimated by Business Review Weekly at A$965 million.