Sherritt to sell coal business for C$946 mln
(Corrects figures in text and headline to show they are in Canadian dollars, not U.S. dollars)
Dec 24 (Reuters) - Canada's Sherritt International Corp said on Tuesday it would sell its coal business for C$946 million ($893 million), nearly two months after a wall collapsed at one of its coal mines, releasing millions of liters of wastewater into the Athabasca River.
Alberta regulators ordered Sherritt in November to clean up the spill - containing clay, mud, shale and coal fines - and investigate the leaks.
Sherritt said on Tuesday it would sell its entire royalty portfolio and stake in coal development assets to a group led by mining company Altius Minerals Corp for C$481 million.
Westmoreland Coal Co will buy Sherritt's operating coal assets - Prairie and Mountain Operations - for C$465 million.
Toronto-based Sherritt said it expects to record a loss of about C$460 million on the disposal, of which C$308 million will be goodwill related to the purchase of coal assets in 2008. ($1 = 1.06 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
