Rio Tinto to divest its shareholding in Palabora

Australian miner Rio Tinto has announced that it is planning to divest its 57.7 percent effective shareholding in South Africa's Palabora Mining Company Limited (Palabora) and has initiated a commercial process to sell its shareholding.
 
Palabora's main asset is a copper mine in South Africa, which has a current mine life until early 2016. The mine's life is likely to be extended to 2030 but it is no longer of sufficient scale to fit with Rio Tinto's strategy. On the other hand, the company statement said that the magnetite stockpile Palabora owns and a possible beneficiation of the magnetite through on-site processing remain outside of Rio Tinto's strategic focus.