Rio Tinto completes Corumbá mine sale to Vale

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has announced that it has completed the sale of its Corumbá iron ore mine in Brazil and the associated river logistics operations to Brazilian-based miner Vale for a cash consideration of US$750 million.
 
Corumbá, located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, produced 2.0 million mt of iron ore in 2008. The logistics assets enable Corumbá to be 70 percent self-sufficient in the transportation of iron ore down the Paraguay River.
 
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Rio Tinto's Corumbá divestment, which was announced on 30 January 2009, was part of a larger transaction that included the Potasio Rio Colorado potash project in Argentina and the Regina exploration assets in Canada. The potash transaction, closed on February 5, 2009 for a cash consideration of US$850 million.
 
Over the last 18 months, Rio Tinto has announced asset sales of US$6.6 billion including the Corumbá and potash transaction. In addition, Rio Tinto has received a binding offer from Amcor for US$2.025 billion for Alcan Packaging's global pharmaceuticals, global tobacco, food Europe and food Asia divisions.
 
During 2008, Rio Tinto announced divestments comprising the Greens Creek mine in Alaska for US$750 million, its interest in the Cortez operation in Nevada for US$1.695 billion and the Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia for US$495 million. Announced transactions in 2009 comprise Rio Tinto's interest in the Ningxia aluminium smelter in China for US$125 million, its Jacobs Ranch coal mine in the United States for US$761 million, Alcan Packaging Food Americas to Bemis Inc. for US$1.2 billion and 56 percent of the Alcan Engineered Products cable division to Platinum Equity for an undisclosed amount.