OREANDA-NEWS. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. signed an agreement for the sale of its 25% stake in the Silver Bell Mining LLC, which Mitsui possesses through its subsidiaries, to AR Silver Bell, Inc., which possesses the remaining 75%. Silver Bell Mining operates the Silver Bell Copper Mine located in Arizona, U.S.A., and AR Silver Bell is a subsidiary of Asarco LLC (a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico S.A.B. de C.V.). The said stock sell-off was completed on September 22, 2014.

One of the basic policies of Mitsui's New Medium-term Management Plan released in May 2014 was to "pursue growth investments and returns to shareholders based on strong cash generation capabilities." The sale of Silver Bell Mining shares is in line with Mitsui's basic policy of improvement through reshuffling its portfolio of assets and executing strategic asset recycling.

Mitsui will maintain, even after the sale of its equity share, good relationships with Asarco and Grupo Mexico built in the course of operating the business together, and will actively seek new business opportunities by exercising Mitsui's comprehensive business engineering capabilities in the mineral and metal resources domain, as well as in other fields.