Mitsubishi, BHP Gear Up for Sale of Australian Coal Mine
Mitsubishi Corp. and BHP Billiton have
begun preparations to sell a portion of the
metallurgical coal mining operations they
jointly own in Australia, The Nikkeireported.
The Gregory Crinum complex has been pro-ducing coking coal since 1979 via open-cut
and underground mining. It had an output
of roughly 3.7 million mt in 2011, account-ing for nearly 10% of all of BHP Billiton
Mitsubishi Alliance’s production.
The 50:50 joint venture last year sus-pended operations at two of its seven
already developed coal mines in the state
of Queensland. This was due to a deterio-rating business environment stemming
from falling coal prices, the rising
Australian dollar and labor costs.
As featured in Womp 2013 Vol 03 - www.womp-int.com