Shares in American mining company Anglo-American (LON:AAL) fell over 6 percent this morning on the sale of its Dartbrook coal mine to Australian Pacific Coal Ltd.
The sale is part of the major restructuring that Anglo-American is undergoing in order to stay afloat in a difficult commodities market. The company is aiming to shrink its assets from 55 to under 25.
Australian Pacific Coal is led by Nathan Tinkler, the boom-to-bust coal baron who became Australia’s youngest billionaire, before losing it all after the collapse of coal prices. Anglo American agreed last week to sell its 83.33 percent interest in the Dartbrook coal mine to Tinkler for $18 million upfront, as well as royalties on coal produced or processed at the mine. Australian Pacific Coal intends to lower production costs at the mine by converting it from an underground operation to open cut.
Anglo-American was one of today’s biggest fallers, currently trading down 5.69 percent at 309.40 pence per share. (1256GMT).
29/12/2015
