Anglo American (LON:AAL) it had sold a minority stake in the Grosvenor coking coal mine in Australia for about $141 million to a consortium of Japanese companies.
The diversified miner, which has consistently been聽offloading coal operations since 2014,聽said the 12% interest was acquired by a group of companies that includes Nippon Steel Corp, Mitsui & Co Ltd, Nippon Steel Trading Corp, Shinsho Corp and JFE Mineral Co Ltd.
The consortium already owned 12% of Anglo鈥檚 next-door Moranbah North coal mine, which provides the processing infrastructure for Grosvenor, located in the Bowen Basin, central Queensland.
鈥淭he alignment of ownership interests across the Moranbah-Grosvenor operation is an important step forward as we unlock the considerable additional value that we see,鈥� Seamus French, CEO of bulk commodities at Anglo American,聽.
Stake in Grosvenor coking coal mine is being acquired by a consortium of Japanese companies that includes Nippon Steel Corp, Mitsui & Co Ltd, Nippon Steel Trading Corp, Shinsho Corp and JFE Mineral Co Ltd.
French said the move would facilitate the delivery of value creation opportunities, including expanding the existing plant and speeding up various processes.聽
While the company is moving away from thermal coal, metallurgical or coking coal appears to be one of its key commodities moving forward.
Despite a slight production drop from 23-25 million tonnes to 22-24 million tonnes expected next year, Anglo recently increased its metallurgical coal guidance for 2022 to an estimated 26-28 million tonnes.
Top mining companies have been聽reducing or eliminating聽their exposure to coal on environmental grounds. Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO), the world鈥檚 second largest miner,聽fully exited the coal sector聽in March 2018, with the sale of its Kestrel coal mine聽in Australia to private equity manager EMR Capital and Indonesia鈥檚 Adaro Energy for $2.25 billion.
Rival BHP (ASX, NYSE:BHP) took a step in the same direction in July, revealing it had been considering聽options to聽divest its thermal coal business, which includes assets in Australia and Colombia.
Shareholders at the world鈥檚 largest mining company, however, don鈥檛 seem too keen to ditch coal. Last week, Australian investors聽voted against a plan聽that would have seen BHP leave lobby groups that promote policies at odds with the goals of the Paris climate accord. The agreement, signed in 2016 by almost 200 nations, aims at reducing emissions of gases that contribute to global warming.
Australia鈥檚聽South32聽(ASX, LON, JSE:S32), which spun out of BHP in 2015, is another company to have recently kissed the fossil fuel goodbye. In early November, it聽sold its thermal coal operations to Seriti Resources聽and two trusts, for 100 million rand ($6.78 million) upfront.