A Chinese consortium, majority owned by MMG has completed the acquisition of Glencore’s Las Bambas copper mine in Peru for $7bn.
The sale is part of Glencore’s efforts to comply with the conditions put forward by the Chinese Government to approve its $29bn acquistion of Xstrata last year.
The Chinese goverment had raised concerns that the merged entity would gain more control on global copper supply.
Glencore will give back some of the proceeds of the sale to share holders and use part of it to reduce its debt.
Glencore said: "The proceeds from the sale will immediately and materially de-gear Glencore’s balance sheet.
"Glencore will continue to look for opportunities to reinvest capital in line with our published returns criteria.
"Any surplus capital, subject to maintaining an efficient balance sheet within Glencore’s strong BBB/Baa credit ratings guidance, will be returned to shareholders, within an appropriate time frame and structure."
With this acquisition, MMG will gain access to additional 6.9 million tons of copper ore reserves and 10.5 million tons of copper mineral resources.
MMG chief executive officer Andrew Michelmore said: "The acquisition of Las Bambas is a proud and significant milestone for MMG, delivering on our growth strategy and objective to be a top three mid-tier mining company.
"Once operational, Las Bambas will significantly increase MMG’s attributable copper sales.
"With Las Bambas expected to produce over 2 million tonnes of copper in concentrate in its first five years, MMG will become one of the world’s largest copper producers also offering exposure to other base metals."