A Mozambican metallurgical project is set to receive major boost with a $540 million investment from Anglo American Plc as payment for a majority stake in the project. According to Reuters, Anglo is seeking a foothold for the global metallurgical coal miner in the southern African region.

For months, Anglo has been consulting various stakeholders, especially the estate of the late Australian tycoon Ken Talbot on acquiring a much coveted asset in Mozambique – a nation that has become a major coal producer.

On Tuesday, Anglo announced it is buying almost 60 percent stake in the Minas de Revuboe project, which borders assets owned by Brazil’s Vale and Rio Tinto.

Minas de Revuboe is located in Moatize coal basin with a 1.4 billion tonnes of hard coking and thermal coal that are suitable for open cut mining. The basin could also support the export of about 9 million metric tonnes of coal annually.

Analysts view the acquisition as a good bargain for Anglo.

“It looks like a good price per tonne. The price partially reflects this is more of a long-dated project, compared to Riversdale – Rio Tinto is already shipping some coal from that purchase,” analyst Jeff Largey at Macquarie said.

With the purchase, major Mozambican projects have become majorly owned by internationally acclaimed mining giants such as Rio, Vale and ENRC, a London-listed Kazakh mining company.