Rio Tinto has concluded the sale of its 40% stake in the Bengalla coal joint venture (JV) in Australia to New Hope in a transaction valued at $616.7m.
With the latest deal, the company has completed $4.7bn of divestments since January 2013.
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Bengalla coal mine is located in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, and produced 8.6 million tonnes in 2014.
In 2001, Coal & Allied bought its stake in Bengalla and manages the site on behalf of JV partners, CNA Bengalla Investments (40%), Wesfarmers Bengalla (40%), Taipower Bengalla (10%) and Mitsui Bengalla Investments (10%).
Rio Tinto said in a statement: "A change to the ownership structure of Coal & Allied completed on 3 February 2016 helped enable this transaction."
As a 100% owner of Coal & Allied, Rio Tinto will receive all consideration associated with the sale of its interest in the Bengalla JV and holds a 67.6% interest with management rights in the mine.
The company will also hold interests of 80% and 55.6% respectively, in the integrated Mount Thorley and Warkworth operations.
At present, Rio Tinto owns 100% interest in the Mount Pleasant project.
The company signed an agreement in January 2016, for the sale of the project to Mach Energy Australia for $224m.
The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
Image: Bengalla coal mine is located in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Photo: courtesy of Wesfarmers Resources.
