Buyers, however, have been scarce and Rio Tinto on Monday scrapped the planned sale of its diamond unit.

Below is an update on the progress of some of those asset sales since June 2012.

- BHP BILLITON (>> BHP Billiton Limited) (>> BHP Billiton plc)

SOLD

*Jimblebar iron ore expansion - sold 15 percent stake for $1.5 billion to Itochu (>> Itochu Corp) and Mitsui (>> Mitsui & Co Ltd)

*Pinto Valley copper mine and railroad - sold for $650 million to Capstone Mining Corp (>> Capstone Mining Corp)

*Guinea Alumina Corp - sold one-third stake to Dubai Aluminium Co and Mubadala Development Co

*Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project - sold stake for $1.63 billion to PetroChina Co Ltd (>> PetroChina Company Limited)

*EKATI diamonds business - sold for $500 million to Harry Winston, now Dominion Diamond Corp (>> Dominion Diamond Corp)

*Yeelirrie uranium deposit - sold for $430 million to Cameco Corp (>> Cameco Corporation)

*Richards Bay mineral sands - sold 37 percent stake for $1.91 billion to operator Rio Tinto (>> Rio Tinto Limited) (>> Rio Tinto plc)

FOR SALE

*BHP told analysts in March the company was looking to sell around 10 assets. Analysts have speculated BHP could fetch more than $20 billion for assets including:

Gregory-Crinum coal operation in Queensland

Petroleum assets in Pakistan, Algeria, UK, Trinidad

Cannington silver-lead mine

Nickel West

Manganese

Aluminium business

Resolution copper

Samarco iron ore pellets

*BHP is also in the process of selling its stake in the Mount Nimba iron ore project in southern Guinea.

- RIO TINTO (>> Rio Tinto Limited)

SOLD

*Eagle nickel project in the United States - sold to Lundin Mining (>> Lundin Mining Corporation) for $325 million in cash

FOR SALE

*Pacific Aluminium - on the block since 2011

*Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), 59 percent stake - Seeking $3.5-$4 billion. Six shortlisted bidders.

*Clermont coal mine - final bids due around late August

*Coal & Allied, 29 percent stake. Price tag: $3.2 billion. Possible bidders include India's Aditya Birla Group and Coal India (>> Coal India Limited). Rio is also in talks with Glencore Xstrata (>> Glencore Xstrata PLC) over a coal alliance.

*Northparkes copper mine in Australia - seeking around $800 million. Final bids due end-June. OZ Minerals (>> OZ Minerals Limited) seen as front runner, according to sources familiar with the matter.

*Rio unit Turquoise Hill Resources (>> Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd) - looking to sell its A$85 million ($78 million) 57 percent stake in Inova Resources (>> Inova Resources Ltd), formerly called Ivanhoe Australia.

SALE WITHDRAWN

*Diamonds business - scrapped sale after 15 months for lack of buyers and weak IPO opportunity

- ANGLO AMERICAN (>> Anglo American plc)

No assets are officially for sale, but the group's new chief executive is completing a three-month review that began when he joined the group in April.

He is expected to consider some divestments, including stake sales in assets like iron ore project Minas Rio in Brazil, where Anglo has already said it could bring in a partner.

- GLENCORE XSTRATA (>> Glencore Xstrata PLC)

FOR SALE

*As a condition for the approval of its acquisition of miner Xstrata, Glencore agreed with China's antitrust authorities in April to sell copper project Las Bambas in Peru. It needs to find a bidder by September 2014

*If it fails to sell Las Bambas at the right price, Glencore could sell one of the former Xstrata copper exploration projects: Tampakan in Philippines, Frieda River in Papua New Guinea and El Pachon or Alumbrera in Argentina.

*Glencore is completing its 100-day review of Xstrata and the integration, following the merger, which completed in May. Other sales could follow the completion of that review.

- BARRICK GOLD (>> Barrick Gold Corp.)

FOR SALE

*Barrick said in January that it had started an auction process to sell its oil and gas unit.

*The company has put three mines in Western Australia up for sale, a source told Reuters in April. Barrick hopes to sell its Yilgram South group of mines - Darlot, Granny Smith and Lawlers.

*Also up for sale is Barrick's 50 percent stake in the Kabanga nickel project in Tanzania

WITHDRAWN SALE

*Ended talks in January on selling a stake in 74 percent owned African Barrick Gold (>> African Barrick Gold PLC) to China National Gold, dashing hopes of a potential $3 billion deal

(Reporting by Richard Pullin, Sonali Paul, Julie Gordon and Clara Ferreira-Marques)