Glencore soothes Rio Tinto governance worries with US government deal

Glencore has agreed to sell a minority stake in its African copper mines to a syndicate led by the US government in a significant development that could soothe Rio Tinto’s concerns about compliance and sovereign risk.

The preliminary, non-binding agreement to sell 40 per cent of Glencore’s two copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a consortium led by Orion Resource Partners, a firm in which the US government is invested, suggests the projects are now operating with the imprimatur of the White House, which has imposed sanctions on early developers of the sites.