Lisheen

Anglo American announced that it has agreed to sell its portfolio of zinc assets to Vedanta Resources for a total consideration of $1,338 million on an attributable, debt and cash free basis. Anglo American Zinc comprises the Skorpion mine in Namibia, the Lisheen mine in Ireland and a 74% interest in Black Mountain Mining in South Africa, which holds 100% of the Black Mountain mine and the Gamsberg project.

Mineweb reports that Anglo American is swimming against a fast running tide by putting more money into Ireland and buying the 50% of the Lisheen zinc mine that it doesn't already own. Mineweb notes that all the other major mining groups that have been exploring Ireland, particularly for zinc, seem to be pulling out of the country and now even some staunchly patriotic Irish people - those running AIM listed Minco - have decided they must look elsewhere in the world if their company is to have a more promising future.

Anglo American Corporation is about to take full control of the Lisheen mine in County Tipperary, completing another important tidying-up step for its base metals operations and also ensuring that one of Europe’s major zinc producers will continue to contribute to the Irish economy, reports MineWeb. Anglo is to pay its joint venture partner, the Toronto listed Ivernia West, only USD1.8m for 50 percent of a mine that has the capacity to produce about 175,000 tonnes of zinc and 25,000 tonnes of lead contained in concentrate a year.