Rio Tinto confident KPC sale goes on

The world's second-largest diversified miner, Rio Tinto Plc, voiced confidence on Thursday that its plan to sell out of Indonesian coal miner Kaltim Prima would not be derailed.

Rio Tinto and its equity partner in Kaltim Prima, oil giant BP Plc , announced this month they had agreed to sell the joint venture for $500 million to Indonesian firm PT Bumi Resources , but there have been some doubts in the market that Bumi Resources can complete the sale.

"I have no reason to expect that the sale won't go through as foreshadowed. I realise there's a lot of noise in Indonesia and that's not unusual, especially in coal projects," Chief Executive Leigh Clifford told a briefing on the firm's half-year results.(*)