Triple-listed Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) and its subsidiary MbeuYashu have received a notice from diversified major Rio Tinto Minerals Development and Rio’s joint venture partner Kwezi Mining alleging that CoAL is in breach of a deferred consideration payable by MbeuYashu for a 2010 acquisition. CoAL, in 2010, entered into a $75-million agreement to buy the Chapudi coal assets, adjacent to its Makhado project, in Limpopo, from Rio Tinto and Kwezi, with $45-million paid upfront in cash, and the balance of $30-million deferred until the sale had been completed in 2012. By May 2015, CoAL had paid $8-million of the deferred amount. At that time, it also announced amendments to the initial agreement, which would see it settle the remaining $22-million by June 2017.
