British mineral exploration and development company Afferro Mining Inc. has announced that it has closed the sale of its 38.5 percent minority interest in the Putu iron ore project in Liberia to Russia-based Severstal's indirect subsidiary Lybica Holding B.V.
According to the amended sale and purchase agreement, Lybica has made an initial cash payment of $65 million, allotting $9.75 million of this amount to address certain tax claims made by Liberia's finance ministry.
However, Afferro stated that allocation of this amount does not acknowledge the validity of the ministry's claims and the company continues to work to resolve the matter in a prompt manner.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the sale of the shares had been delayed due to ongoing tax talks with Liberia's finance ministry.