6

*报道原文：

Wesfarmers has sold its Curragh coal mine in Queensland for $700 million in a deal that will also earn it further payments if the coal price remains strong.

The conglomerate said it would book a $100 million after-tax profit on the sale to US producer Coronado Coal Group.

Wesfarmers will also get 25 per cent of Curragh's export revenue for the next two years generated on sales above a metallurgical coal price of $US145 a tonne.

It is currently sitting well above $US200 a tonne.

Wesfarmers said last year it was reviewing the future of its resources business and still has its 40 per cent stake in the Bengalla coal mine in NSW under "strategic review". As reported in Street Talk, UBS has been running an auction process for the assets, with Gresham also involved in this deal.

"We believe this agreement with Coronado is in the best interests of our shareholders, while giving the employees and customers of Curragh the opportunity to work with a leading coal producer with ambitions to expand in Australia," managing director Rob Scott said.

Curragh, which was acquired by Wesfarmers for about $200 million in 2000, is one of the world's biggest metallurgical coal mines. It produces about 8.5 million tonnes a year of metallurgical coal for export, as well as 3.5 million tonnes a year of thermal coal, which is sold to Queensland state-owned power producer Stanwell Corporation.

The open-cut mine, located near the town of Blackwater, looks set to be the first Australian investment for Coronado, part of privately owned, Texas-based The Energy & Minerals Group. It produces about 8.2 million tonnes a year of coal from three mines in West Virginia and Virginia.

Mr Scott, who took over as managing director from Richard Goyder last month, said that while the mine had been a good investment for Wesfarmers, the decision to sell takes into account shareholders' long-term interests.

Coronado still needs approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to complete the deal.