The world's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal has announced its acquisition of a 14.9 percent stake in Australian Queensland-based coal mining company Macarthur Coal Limited (Macarthur).
The acquired shares include 4.27 percent of shares in Macarthur from Talbot Group Holdings and a further 10.4 percent of shares from Tinkler Investments.
The purchase of the shares is worth a total of AU$631 million (US$604.8 million).
In the financial year 2007, Macarthur's saleable product totaled 3.6 million mt on an attributable basis (73.3 percent) and its resources on a 100 percent project basis totaled 1,574 million mt.
Macarthur's major product is low volatile pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal which is used in the production of steel.