Officials at Rio Tinto have reached a binding agreement to sell their Eagle Project to Lundin Mining Corp. for $325 million in cash; the transaction is forecast to close in Q3 2013 and subject to regulatory approval.
Located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Eagle Project includes a high-grade, underground nickel-copper mine and mill; construction commenced in Q2 2010 and is approximately 55% complete.
Rio Tinto CFO Chris Lynch noted the sale “demonstrates our renewed focus in the way we allocate capital,” while outlining the company’s “good progress on other potential divestments as part of our goal to achieve substantial proceeds from divesting non-core assets.”
Lundin Mining Corp. is a diversified base metals mining company with operations in Portugal, Sweden and Spain, producing copper, zinc, lead and nickel. In addition, Lundin holds a 24% equity stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in the Kokkola cobalt refinery in Finland.
