Glencore Xstrata, owner of Viterra’s global grain handling and processing network, has reached an agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. to jointly acquire a majority ownership stake in Australia’s third largest thermal coal mine.
Glencore and Sumitomo will pay $1.02 billion for a 50.1 percent share in Rio Tinto’s Clermont Mine in the Australian state of Queensland.
The two companies will each own a 25.05 percent share in the mine, with Glencore operating the asset and marketing the production.
Glencore and Sumitomo are also well known players in Australia’s grain handling industry.
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Glencore’s acquisition of Viterra easily made it the biggest grain handler in South Australia.
Viterra’s grain handling assets in that state include more than 100 grain receival sites and seven bulk export terminals.
Viterra’s total country storage in Australia is estimated at 10.4 million tonnes. The company handles close to 90 percent of the grain delivered into South Australia’s bulk grain handling system.
Sumitomo owns a 50 percent stake in Australia’s Emerald Grain, which operates 14 regional grain marketing offices in the country and owns a 48,000 tonne export terminal in Melbourne.
Emerald’s total storage capacity in Australia is estimated at 1.5 million tonnes. Its annual grain exports in 2012-13 were estimated at three million tonnes with deliveries to 35 countries.
