Anglo American’s (LON:AAL) platinum business has sold an 85% interest in its Union mine in South Africa to Siyanda Resources following a lengthy delay to the disposal.
The sale of the platinum mine in Rustenburg began in 2013 but was delayed while the company offloaded unprofitable parts of the business.
Anglo American Platinum, known as Amplats, has also agreed to sell a 50.1% interest in Masa Chrome Company to Siyanda. Siyanda already owned 49.9% of the chromite recovery business.
Siyana will pay a total consideration of 400mln rand for Union and Masa. It will sell concentrate produced by the Union mine to Amplates for seven years from the completion data on pre-agreed terms. Anglo will then toll treat concentrate for the remaining life of the mine.
“The sale of Union Mine and MASA Chrome advances the company’s repositioning to focus on its most competitive assets, consisting of largely open pit and mechanised operations which will deliver higher margin production, a more highly skilled workforce, safer operations and a less complex organisation,” Anglo said in a statement.
The deal is expected to be compelete this year, subject to regulatory approval
In February 2016, Anglo announced a disposal plan as part of a major overhaul as it reported an annual loss following a slump in prices of natural resources.
In a separate announcement on Wednesday, Anglo said Amplats will swing to headline earnings of $126m in the year ended 31 December from a loss of $10m in 2015.
However, the miner said underlying earnings at the platinum business will fall to $65m from $168m the previous year.