Rio Tinto has agreed a deal to offload its 80% stake in Northparkes copper and gold mine in Australia to China Molybednum for $820 million. Rio has been seeking to sell assets as part of its $5 billion cost-cutting strategy. Meanwhile, Chinese firms have been eager to acquire resources to cater to domestic demand. China is the world’s largest buyer of copper and analysts said that demand from the world’s second-largest economy was expected to continue to grow.
29 July 2013
