Highly geared Swiss miner Glencore is poised to sell assets in Australia and Chile as early as today, after putting its Hong Kong listed shares into a trading halt today. 
The miner said the halt was required ahead of the sales, which have been expected for several months, particularly after Glencore announced plans to reduce its debt by $US10 billion in early   September.
Speculation around the asset sales has focused on Glencore's agricultural assets, some of which are located in Australia.
The company has both production, processing and infrastructure assets in the Australian wool and grain sectors, most of which were acquired in the $C6.1 billion acquisition of Viterra in 2012.
While Glencore has scores of coal, nickel, zinc, lead and silver mines in Australia, good value for those assets would be hard to find at this point of the cycle.
Glencore's Chilean operations are mostly focused on copper, with stakes in three copper mines plus development projects and ports.
The company also has a hydro-electricity asset in Southern Chile.
The asset sales follow recent decisions to cut production of zinc, silver, lead, copper and Australian coal.
More to come.