TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Teck Cominco, seeking to sell assets to raise cash for debt repayment, said on Friday that Barrick Gold will buy its 50% stake in the Williams and David Bell mines – together known as the Hemlo operation, in Canada.

Barrick owns the balance of the Hemlo mines, in western Ontario, and will pay $65-million for Teck's stake, the company said.

Teck also announced later on Friday that it has agreed to sell its indirect interest in Peruvian firm Sociedad Minera El Brocal to Peru's biggest mining company, Compania de Minas Buenaventura, for $35-million in cash.

Teck, which is under pressure to refinance a $5,8-billion bridging loan and meet payments on a $4-billion term loan, which it took out to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust last year, said last week it was in advanced negotiations to sell all its gold assets and was considering other divestments.

After selling its share of the Lobo-Marte project, in Chile, to Kinross Gold last year, the balance of its gold portfolio includes a 40% interest in Sumitomo's Pogo mine, in Alaska, a 78,8% stake in the Morelos gold project, in Mexico, in which fellow Canadian Goldcorp holds the balance, and some exploration interests in Turkey.

Teck has also indicated that it may sell some or all of more core assets, and a minority stake its coal portfolio.

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