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Birmingham’s Drummond Co. has sold a 20 percent stake in its Colombia coal mining operations for more than $1.5 billion to Itochu Corp., one of Japan’s largest resources and trading conglomerates.

In an interview from Japan, Drummond chief executive Garry Neil Drummond said the deal is the first of many the Birmingham-based mining company plans to do internationally.

“We think of ourselves now as an international diversified miner,” Drummond said. “We’re attempting to get into other minerals and other countries as we look down the road. This deal will give us more of an international look.”

A new entity — Drummond International LLC — was created to own and operate the Colombia mines and the related transportation infrastructure. Drummond International will be owned 80 percent by Drummond and 20 percent by Itochu.

Drummond said to commemorate the ties between the Alabama and Japanese companies and their Colombia operations, Drummond Co. is donating $3 million to address something else the three places have in common — devastation from recent natural disasters.

Drummond is giving $1 million each to support disaster relief causes for the victims of the April tornadoes in Alabama, the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, and recent floods in Colombia.

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