Mitsui takes stake in Aussie coal project

Mitsui takes stake in Aussie coal project

Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and mining group Anglo American Plc. have agreed to buy coal stakes in Australia from Canada’s Sennen Resources Ltd. and Australia’s DJB Coal Pty Ltd., Mitsui said on Friday.

Under the deal, Mitsui’s Mitsui Coal Holdings will obtain 49 percent of the interests in Collingwood and Ownaview deposits located in the Surat Basin in Queensland, Mitsui said. Anglo American’s Anglo Coal Australia (ACA) will take 51 percent.

A spokesman for Mitsui, Japan’s No. 2 trading house, declined to disclose the value of the deal. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

The Collingwood deposits have indicated thermal coal resources of 113 million tonnes and those of Ownaview 117 million tonnes, Mitsui said.

Mitsui and ACA already hold stakes in the Taroom deposit in the Surat Basin. The Taroom deposit has estimated coal reserves of 255 million tonnes.

Mitsui said the deal helps in stabilising coal supplies to Asia where demand for electricity generation is expanding.

Source: Reuters

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