Russian mining and steel producing company Evraz Group has announced that it has signed a binding agreement for the sale of the Gramoteinskaya thermal coal mine, part of its wholly-owned subsidiary Yuzhkuzbassugol Coal Company, to Lehram Capital Investments Ltd for a RUB 10,000 ($310) cash consideration, calculated on a debt-free basis.
The disposal is in line with Evraz's plan to divest itself of non-performing assets. The company is focusing on the development of coking coal mines important for securing access to raw materials in steelmaking, while its thermal coal mining business is non-core to the strategy.
The Gramoteinskaya mine has a designed capacity of 2.5 million mt per year of thermal coal and is located 100 km north of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region, Russia. The mine produced and exported thermal coal until mining operations were suspended in Q4 2012. Operations have not recommenced since then.
As of June 30, 2013, Gramoteinskaya mine had gross assets of US$13 million. For the year ended December 31, 2012, the mine produced a loss before tax of US$19 million.
