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A Turquois Hill project in Mongolia.

Turquoise Hill Resources is selling its 50-per-cent stake in Kazakhstan miner Altynalmas Gold Ltd. for $300-million (U.S.) to Sumeru Gold BV.

Altynalmas is a private company that owns the Kyzyl gold project in northeastern Kazakhstan.

Turquoise Hill — formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines — acquired an interest in the project in 1996 and acquired its stake in Altynalmas in 2008.

The Vancouver-headquartered company, now 51 per cent owned by Rio Tinto, has been selling off non-core assets.

Its primary operation is a 66-per-cent interest in the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mine in southern Mongolia, which is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2013.

Other assets include a 58-per-cent interest in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources and 57-per-cent interest in copper-gold miner Ivanhoe Australia.

The sale of its stake in Altynalmas to closely held Sumeru is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approvals in Kazakhstan.

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