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Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (500900.BY) has completed the acquisition of a 74% stake in the Black Mountain Mines of Anglo American PLC (AAUKY) in South Africa for $260 million, Sterlite said late Friday in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Sterlite said its unit Sterlite Infra Ltd. bought the stake from Anglo Operations Ltd., a unit of Anglo American. The deal includes the Black Mountain zinc mine and the Gamsberg zinc project.
Sterlite, a unit of Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN), will also be replacing a shareholder loan for $88 million, which takes the total value of the deal to $348 million, the company said.
The company said in May 2010 it had proposed to buy the zinc mining assets of Anglo American for a total of $1.338 billion, which included Anglo's fully-owned Skorpion mine in Namibia, fully-owned Lisheen mine in Ireland and 74% stake in the Black Mountain mines in South Africa.
Sterlite said it completed acquiring the Skorpion mine for about $707 million in cash in December, and is in the process of acquiring Lisheen.
"This acquisition will consolidate our position as the world's largest integrated zinc-lead producer with significant reserves and resources of 478 million tons," the company said in a statement.
The Black Mountain mines and Gamberg mines are among the largest undeveloped zinc deposits in the world with a mineral resource of 196 million tons of ore as per the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee, Sterlite said.
The planned production capacity of the mines is 400,000 tons a year over more than 20 years, the company added.
-By Eric Yep, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-22-6145-6110; eric.yep@dowjones.com
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