Exxaro Resources has agreed to dispose of its 100% interest in Moranbah South project, in Australia, to Stanmore Resources for $105-million (R1.68 billion).
The announcement was made on Friday, and Exxaro had exercised its pre-emptive right over 50% of Moranbah South. This is in terms of a previous agreement with Anglo American in which Exxaro was a 50/50 JV partner in Moranbah South, a Queensland mine with a design capacity of 18 million tons a year.
Exxaro Australia currently holds a 50% participation interest in Moranbah South. Following implementation of the pre-emptive acquisition, Exxaro Australia will hold a 100% interest in Moranbah South, which it will then sell to Stanmore.
Exxaro CEO Ben Magara elaborated, “We outlined at our Capital Markets Day, a clear path to accelerate the disciplined execution of our strategy, including crystalising our portfolio into three distinct pillars of our established South African coal business, renewable energy and future-facing metals for long-term value creation.”
“As part of this strategy, we showed our investment in Moranbah South as noncore. This transaction is consistent with that commitment and, together with the disposal of FerroAlloys – completed in October 2025 – represents further progress in simplifying our portfolio, allowing us to focus management attention and direct capital to areas which enhance long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he added.
“Coal remains an important business pillar. Our established South African coal portfolio, underpinned by long-life, high-quality, well-capitalised and cash-generative assets, will continue to provide defensive and diverse earnings supporting the execution of our growth strategy.
“We remain focused on maintaining our record of consistent shareholder returns and growing our renewable-energy business and future-facing metals, particularly our globally significant position in manganese,” he adds.
Exxaro expects to complete the sale of Moranbah South to Stanmore by the end of this year.
Stanmore CEO Marcelo Matos pointed out that the acquisition will increase the company’s resource base and strengthen the platform to deliver on the company’s future growth aspirations.
“The tenements are strategically complementary to Stanmore’s neighbouring projects, particularly Eagle Downs and the Isaac Downs Extension.”
Furthermore, he added that the resource base at Moranbah South is expected to be of premium hard coking coal quality and may potentially be accessed through mine infrastructure at Eagle Downs, should that project be developed.
“This further enhances the value of the transaction and the economics of the Isaac Downs Extension,” the company notes.
