Rio Tinto has reached a binding agreement for the sale of its 80% interest in Northparkes to China Molybdenum Company Limited for USD 820 million.

Mr Chris Lynch CFO Rio Tinto said that "The sale of Northparkes represents great value for our shareholders and demonstrates our continued focus and discipline in the way we allocate capital across the Group. Northparkes is a successful business but is not of sufficient size to be a good fit with our strategy. We believe it will have a strong future under its new ownership. Rio Tinto will continue to manage Northparkes to the highest safety and environmental standards during the transition to the new owner.”

Mr Chris Lynch "The agreed sale of Northparkes follows our recently completed divestment of the Eagle nickel project in the United States while the Palabora sale is now unconditional and expected to close on July 31st 2013. As always any decision to sell is driven by our focus on delivering the best value for our shareholders."

The sale is subject to Rio Tinto's JV partners, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation Mineral Resources, waiving or failing to exercise their pre emption rights under the terms of the Northparkes JV Agreement. The sale is also conditional upon customary regulatory approvals and the approval of CMOC shareholders.

Rio Tinto has received binding commitments from the two major CMOC shareholders holding 69% of CMOC shares to support the transaction which is sufficient for the relevant shareholder resolutions to be passed.