ICVL to buy Rio Tinto's coal assets in Mozambique for $50 mn

ICVL will buy the Tete East project and the Benga mine, which will give it captive coal mines

State-owned International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd (ICVL) has signed an agreement to buy Rio Tinto's coal assets in Mozambique for $50 million.

ICVL - a joint venture company of Steel Authority of India, Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam and NMDC - will buy the Tete East project and the Benga mine, which will give it captive coal mines.

Rio Tinto had bought these assets as part of acquisition of Riversdale Mining Limited in 2011.

The acquisition will be the first of ICVL since its inception in 2009.

"The sale is subject to certain conditions precedent and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014," Rio Tinto said in a statement today.

During the transition to the new owner, Rio Tinto will continue to manage the mine to the highest safety and environmental standards. Rio Tinto's other assets in the country are unaffected by this transaction, it said.