SANTIAGO, Aug 23: Mining giants Codelco and Anglo American said on Thursday they had ended their legal battle over the British firm's sale of a $5.4 billion stake in its Chilean copper operations.

The two companies said they would form a new partnership also involving Japan's Mitsubishi and Mitsui groups for Anglo American Sur, which produces 260,000 tons of copper annually.

Anglo American will retain a 50.1 per cent shareholding in the company, known as AA Sur, while a joint venture of Codelco and Mitsui, controlled by Chile's state-owned Codelco, will acquire a 29.5 per cent interest.

Mitsubishi will hold the rest of the shares, less than what it had planned on getting in its original investment in the company last year, which sparked the dispute.

The move put an end to a festering battle over rights to the company's shares, after Codelco sought to block Anglo American's November 2011 deal to sell 24.5 per cent of AA Sur to Mitsubishi.

Codelco had insisted that it had a preemptive option to purchase a 49 percent interest of its own in the company, which before Mitsubishi's stake purchase was wholly owned by Anglo American.

At stake was a share in the valuable central Chile mining operation, which is moving to expand production to 490,000 tons annually.

“Today's commercial agreement demonstrates Anglo American's and Codelco's focus on our future and potential as partners in the best interests of both companies,” said Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll in a statement.—AFP