This announcement yesterday should have a positive effect on...

This announcement yesterday should have a positive effect on those investing in uranium in Western Australia. If the biggest uranium miner in the world has faith enough to invest so heavily in WA, it demonstrates that at least some have hope for uranium mining in this state.

Rio Tinto will sell its Kintyre uranium project in WA to a joint venture consortium for $US495 million ($A518.3 million), as it moves closer to completing its $US10 billion ($A10.5 billion) asset sales target for this year.

The sale of the project to subsidiaries of Cameco Corporation and Mitsubishi Development is expected to close in August.

“This sale brings us closer to achieving our asset sales target of $US10 billion in 2008, and is the third under a planned program to divest at least $US15 billion of assets in total,” Rio Tinto chief financial officer Guy Elliott said in a statement.

“It illustrates our ability to obtain real value for our assets.”

The transaction follows the sales earlier this year of the Greens Creek mine in Alaska for $US750 million and Rio Tinto's interest in the Cortez operation in Nevada for $US1.695 billion.

The finalisation of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions and certain agreements with the Martu People, the traditional owners of the land.

Kintyre is located in the East Pilbara region of WA, approximately 270km north-east of Newman and 90km south of Telfer, on the south-west margin of the Great Sandy Desert.