Rio Tinto has completed the sale of its Corumbá iron ore mine in Brazil and the associated river logistics operations to Vale SA for a cash consideration of USD 750 million.
The Corumbá divestment, which was announced on January 30th 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 5th 2009 for a cash consideration of USD 850 million.
Over the last 18 months, Rio Tinto has announced asset sales of USD 6.6 billion including the Corumbá and potash transaction. In addition, Rio Tinto has received a binding offer from Amcor for USD 2.025 billion for Alcan Packaging global pharmaceuticals, global tobacco, food Europe and food Asia divisions.
During 2008, Rio Tinto announced divestments comprising the Greens Creek mine in Alaska for USD 750 million, its interest in the Cortez operation in Nevada for USD 1.695 billion and the Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia for USD 495 million. Announced transactions in 2009 comprise the Group's interest in the Ningxia aluminium smelter in China for USD 125 million, its Jacobs Ranch coal mine in the United States for USD 761 million, Alcan Packaging Food Americas to Bemis Inc for USD 1.2 billion and 56% of the Alcan Engineered Products cable division to Platinum Equity for an undisclosed amount.
