TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Anglo American will not sell its Peace River Coal assets in British Columbia after all, a spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.

“In line with our strategy to grow our metallurgical coal business both within and beyond Australia, we have decided to retain, invest in and grow our Peace River Coal asset,” spokesperson James Wyatt-Tilby said in an email.

He not did say why the group decided to keep the assets after identifying them for sale, nor what investments or growth are being planned.

London-based Anglo announced in 2009 that it would sell its Peace River Coal operations, as part of a broader plan to divest of noncore assets.

The company owns 75% of the metallurgical coal joint venture (JV), Northern Energy & Mining Incorporated (NEMI) has 12%, and Swiss commodities trader Vitol Anker International holds the remaining 13%.

Anglo had been leading the sale of the entire asset on behalf of the other partners, but NEMI said this week it had been informed that the sale process was off.

Teck Resources, Grande Cache Coal and Western Coal were all seen as potential bidders, as they have operations in the area, and Western Coal (since acquired by Walter Energy) had confirmed its interest in the assets.

Western already owned 20% of NEMI, as well as a JV with Peace River on some other properties.

Metallurgical coal prices rose in the first quarter of this year, as floods and heavy rainfall in Australia, the biggest exporter of steelmaking coal, put pressure on global supplies, but prices have reportedly softened in recent weeks as the Australian mines ramp up production.

"In metallurgical markets, we continue to see overall pricing weakness as Australian supply recovers from December-January flooding," analysts at New York-based Dahlman Rose & Co wrote in a report on Monday.

They added that "the quality price spread has been widening on the way down".

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