While no sums were revealed, Rio confirmed to Bloomberg on Friday the sale of its 50% stake in the Sengwa colliery and its 78% stake of the Murowa diamond mine.
The divestment comes during a painful downturn in coal prices while Rio reportedly flagged in January that high government taxes could possibly trigger the closure of the Murowa mine.
There is more recent press speculation that Rio is in talks to divest some New South Wales coal assets to X2, the private equity group run by former Xstrata Coal executives.