Peabody has entered into an agreement to sell the majority of its Burton mine and related infrastructure to the Lenton Joint Venture for approximately US$11 million.
The Lenton Joint Venture will assume the reclamation obligations associated with the assets being acquired by the Lenton Joint Venture, reducing Peabody's asset retirement obligation by approximately US$53 million while also releasing an estimated US$30 million of restricted cash.
The Burton mine, located in Queensland's Bowen Basin, entered a care, maintenance and rehabilitation phase in December 2016.
The transaction is conditional on a number of regulatory and other requirements and completion is expected to take place in the first half of 2018.
The Lenton Joint Venture, of which New Hope Coal is a 90% participant, controls mining tenements that adjoin the Burton mine.