South32 drops plan to buy $200m Australian coal mine

<p>Leading metal and coal mining company South32 announced that the company has dropped the plan to buy Peabody Energy's Metropolitan&nbsp;coal mine worth $200-million in Australia. &nbsp;The company was not ready to make concessions in favour of Australian steelmakers.&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/coal-mining-in-poland-2-555x370.jpg" alt="news" width="336" height="226" /></p> <p>South32&nbsp;CEO&nbsp;Graham Kerr&nbsp;said, "To proceed with the acquisition, in light of the anticipated concessions, would have compromised the merits of the transaction and this is not something we are prepared to do."&nbsp;</p> <p>South32 had proclaimed in November that it decided to buy Peabody&rsquo;s Metropolitan Colliery and an associated 17 per cent stake in the Port Kembla Coal Terminal.&nbsp;</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>Peabody president&nbsp;Glenn Kellow said in a statement, "We are surprised that South32 and the ACCC reached an impasse, given both the physical synergies and the global nature of the metallurgical coal markets."</p> <p>"On the other hand, we see continuing opportunities given Metropolitan's quality coking coals and&nbsp;port&nbsp;location, and our objective will be to operate the mine while maximising returns in the international marketplace."</p>