Mergers & Acquisitions | Global Mining
Global mining giant Anglo American this past week announced that it has finalised its exit from the thermal coal business, completely removing the commodity from its portfolio.
In a statement the London headquartered mining Conglomerate revealed it has completed sale of shareholding in Cerrejón to another mining behemoth Glencore.
Cerrejón is a large open-pit coal mine in Colombia. It is located in the southeast of the department of La Guajira, close to the border with Venezuela.
The coal mine is situated in the northeastern part of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, the basin of the Ranchería River, between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the west and the Serranía del Perijá to the southeast.
At Cerrejón, low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal from the Cerrejón Formation is excavated. The mine is one of the largest of its type, the largest in Latin America and the tenth biggest in the world.
Cerrejón extends over 690 square kilometres (270 sq mi). It is divided into three sections, North Zone, Central Zone and South Zone. Total proven reserves are estimated at 503 megatonnes. In 2016, the mine produced 32,683,315 tonnes (32,167,132 long tons; 36,027,188 short tons
Anglo American announced that it has completed the sale of its 33.3%
shareholding in the Cerrejón joint venture (“Cerrejón”) to Glencore plc (“Glencore”) for a total cash consideration of approximately US$294 million, based on an effective economic date of 31 December 2020.
The completion of this transaction, that was first announced on 28 June 2021, marks the final stage of Anglo American’s exit from thermal coal operations.
Glencore has been a longstanding 33.3% shareholder in Cerrejón alongside Anglo American and BHP and has concurrently acquired BHP’s 33.3% interest in Cerrejón Glencore therefore now has 100% ownership and operating control of Cerrejón.
