BHP Billiton last week agreed to sell its U.S. shale oil and gas assets for $10.5 billion, while Rio Tinto appears on track to exit its troubled investment in the giant Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia for about $3.5 billion.
The failed plan was to find an operator with a lower cost structure or a different mining approach that would be able to take over and extend Voorspoed’s life.