Rio Tinto close to talc unit sale

20th Dec 2010 08:21

Mining heavyweight Rio Tinto has nearly sold its talc business, Luzenac, to France's Imerys for up to €500m (£420m).It's thought the pair are in advanced talks, though Rio is yet to grant Imerys exclusivity on the deal for the unit, responsible for around 20% of global demand for talc. Rio has already raised $10bn (£6.5bn) from the sale of non-core assets as part of a huge disposals programme. "Rio Tinto continues to seek buyers for its talc business but a deal has not been reached," said a Rio spokesman. "The company is not under pressure to divest any of its assets and its goal is to realise full value for the talc business." Luzenac, understood to be negotiating a figure of €300m-500m, supplies mineral used in paints, paper and personal care products from mines in the US, Europe and Australia.