Rio Tinto sells Australian project

SYDNEY: Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd. will sell its Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia state to a joint venture consortium for US$495 million, as it moves closer to completing its US$10 billion asset sales target for this year, the company said Thursday.

The sale of the project to subsidiaries of Cameco Corp. and Mitsubishi Development Pty. Ltd. is expected to close in August, Rio Tinto chief financial officer Guy Elliott said in a statement.

``This sale brings us closer to achieving our asset sales target of US$10 billion in 2008, and is the third under a planned program to divest at least US$15 billion of assets in total,'' Elliott said. ``It illustrates our ability to obtain real value for our assets.''

The transaction follows the sales earlier this year of the Greens Creek mine in Alaska for US$750 million and Rio Tinto's interest in the Cortez operation in Nevada for US$1.695 billion.

The finalization of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions and certain agreements with the traditional owners of the land.