Rio Tinto sells Bengalla for $617m

Rio Tinto has sold its 40% interest in the Bengalla coal joint venture in Australia for US$616.7m (£443m).

The sale was enabled after Rio took its stake in Coal & Allied from 80% to 100% on 3 February as part of the restructuring of the coal group, which means it will receive the entire consideration from its interest in the Bengalla JV and from its recent sale of the Mount Pleasant project for $224m plus royalties.

Allied's restructuring also gives Rio a 67.6% interest with management rights in the Hunter Valley Operations mine, 80% in Mount Thorley and 55.6% in Warkworth.

Since 2013 Rio Tinto has announced $4.7bn of divestments as it looks to slim down in the face of lower commodity prices.