Peabody announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell the majority of its Burton mine and related infrastructure to the Lenton Joint Venture for approximately US$11 million.

The Lenton Joint Venture will assume the reclamation obligations associated with the assets being acquired by the Lenton Joint Venture, reducing Peabody's asset retirement obligation by approximately US$53 million while also releasing an estimated $30 million of restricted cash. The Burton mine, located in Queensland's Bowen Basin, entered a care, maintenance and rehabilitation phase in December 2016, Peabody said in a statement.

The transaction is conditional on a number of regulatory and other requirements and completion is expected to take place in the first half of 2018. 

The Lenton Joint Venture, of which New Hope Coal is a 90 percent participant, controls mining tenements that adjoin the Burton mine.

Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company. The company is also a leading voice in advocating for sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal technologies. Peabody serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on five continents.