Rio Tinto sells stakes in Zimbabwean diamond and coal assets

(Adds detail, context)

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Global mining company Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) has agreed to sell its stakes in two small Zimbabwean assets to private group RZ Morowa Holdings Limited, it said on Friday without disclosing the price.

Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto will transfer its 78 per cent stake in the Murowa Diamonds mine and its 50 per cent holding in the Sengwa Colliery energy project.

RioZim Limited, a Zimbabwe-listed Rio Tinto subsidiary that already holds 22 per cent of Murowa Diamonds and the other 50 per cent of Sengwa, will assume overall management of both entities.

"Rio Tinto believes that the future of these assets can be best managed by entities with existing interests in Zimbabwe," the company said in a statement.

Earlier this year Zimbabwe said it was planning to merge all diamond mining businesses, including the local unit of Rio Tinto, into one company in which the state would own half of the shares as part of its black economic empowerment programme.

An industry source said the assets were too small to fit in with Rio Tinto's large-scale assets portfolio.

Alan Davies, head of Rio Tinto's diamond and minerals division, said the company remains committed to the diamond sector. (Reporting by Silvia Antonioli; Editing by David Goodman)