Rio Tinto pulls plug on ill-fated Mozambique coal venture

摘要

Rio Tinto Ltd has agreed to sell coal assets it bought through a $USUS4 billion acquisition of Riversdale in 2011 for just $US50 million to an Indian joint venture, ending its ill-fated venture in Mozambique's coal sector. The sale of Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique to International Coal Ventures Private Limited (ICVL) includes the Benga coal mine and other projects in Tete province, assets that had a value of $US71 million as of March 31 in Rio's books. In 2013, Rio Tinto sacked its chief executive and other executives directly involved in the acquisition of Riversdale and wrote off about $US3.5 billion of the purchase price, partly owing to a failure to secure a permit to move coal by barge down Mozambique's Zambezi River.