According to Mining News Pro - The sale was part of a contractual arrangement to support Zijin Mining Group’s acquisition of Continental.

“Selling our Continental stake… will support our disciplined approach to capital allocation, including strengthening our investment grade balance sheet, investing in our highest returning projects, and returning excess cash to our shareholders,” said Newmont CEO Tom Palmer in a press release.

Combined with the sale of its interests in Continental and KCGM, and with the completed sale of Red Lake in Ontario, Newmont will have generated more than $1.4 billion in asset sales in less than a year.  

Last year, outgoing CEO Gary Goldberg said Newmont was planning to divest up to $1.5 billion in assets following its $10 billion acquisition of rival Goldcorp in April, taking advantage of higher gold prices.