The country's Environmental Court handed Monday a major victory to Barrick’s besieged Pascua-Lama gold, copper and silver project, straddling the border with Argentina.
The U.S. miner said the sale is part of a strategy to divest non-core assets and focus on supplying iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry.
There are a number of challenges South32 is likely to face, including potential Black Economic Empowerment ownership concessions and power price hikes.
The regulation forces mining companies to consider the possibility of a tailings disaster and evaluate the environmental, health, social and economic impacts of an accident.
Coal mine fatalities in China dropped almost 87% to 931 last year from more than 7,000 casualties registered in the sector in 2002, according to official figures recently disclosed.
