With Kumba Iron Ore having been granted full mining rights for Sishen mine after a lengthy battle, the company is a more attractive prospect for potential buyers - and parent Anglo American now has one less issue to deal with as it prepares the business for sale. Kumba shares rose 6.5%, the highest since early September, after the news on Thursday that the Department of Mineral Resources had awarded it the 21.4% residual mining right on Sishen mine in the Northern Cape, after an eight-year battle. This residual mining right will be included in the 78.6% Sishen mining right that Sishen Iron Ore Company successfully converted in 2009.The company has an ongoing tax issue with the SA Revenue Service over a R1-billion additional tax liability in 2011 and R5.5-billion for the previous five years, although Anglo said it was not worried that the tax issue would affect a sale."We don't believe that the letter of findings received from SARS in relation to the 2011 tax year will affect or stall the Kumba sale process," said Anglo American spokeswoman Ann Farndell. She pointed out that the company said last month that Sishen Iron Ore Company disagreed with SARS's findings.Izak van Niekerk, a resources analyst at Mergence, said the unresolved tax issue was still a concern to a buyer, but the mining right removed one of the obstacles to a sale.Kumba's BEE deal with Exxaro will end next month which could be a concern to potential buyers, said Van Niekerk.According to the current draft, the mining charter requires a consistent 26% BEE shareholding at a company at all times.The mining rights issue in itself does not mean a sale is imminent.story_article_left1"I don't think this makes the sale less or more likely. I think it's a case of whether Anglo American can get the appropriate price from a potential buyer," Van Niekerk said.Better cash flow, reducing debt, the iron ore price stabilising and trading at $56.50 (about R804) a ton and also the possibility of paying dividends had set Kumba on the right track.Peter Major, a mining analyst at Cadiz Corporate Solutions, said resolving the rights definitely made Kumba look more attractive for the sale.He said Anglo had "definitely slowed down its decision-making and implementation" regarding the sale of the assets it wants to dispose of because of the commodity prices. "They're not in a rush. They were selling things, in a real panic, in the past 12 months but now they can say, 'Hey, do I really want to get out of my assets tomorrow at any cost?'"Although Mark Cutifani, Anglo American's CEO, has reiterated since the announcement in February that the company planned to sell assets, the group was not going to mount a fire sale and would make sure that it got the appropriate prices for its assets.The mining right came with the conditions that Kumba continue selling ore to ArcelorMittal SA and support skills development, research and development and initiatives to enable preferential procurement.Kumba CEO Themba Mkhwanazi said: "Kumba is an attractive and high-quality business that will benefit from more capital investment and management attention under a new owner."Securing the mining rights went all the way to the Constitutional Court, after the mining right was secured by Imperial Crown Trading, which had applied for it ahead of Kumba. The court ruled in Kumba's favour in 2013 but it was only this week that the Department of Mineral Resources complied with the ruling...