Rio Tinto has received clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission on the pending sale of its Jacobs Ranch coal mine to Arch Coal, Inc.
The parties will move ahead to close the transaction which is expected within the next six weeks.
On 9 March 2009, Rio Tinto announced it had reached an agreement to sell Jacobs Ranch to Arch Coal for a total cash consideration of US$761M.
Jacobs Ranch mine, located approximately 55 miles south of Gillette, Wyoming, extracts steam coal from the Wyodak Seams, using dragline and truck-and-shovel methods. Two products are produced from the Jacobs Ranch mine with varying sulphur content. The mine shipped 42.1 mt of coal in 2008. Jacobs Ranch had approximately 381 mt of proven and probable reserves at 31 December 2008.
