By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) Wednesday said there was no
environmental impact from two separate incidents in which
radioactive slurry spilled from its operations in Namibia and
Australia.
Rio Tinto experienced a low-grade slurry spill at its uranium
Ranger mine in Australia's Northern Territory, Rio Tinto's head of
energy Harry Kenyon-Slaney told analysts at an investor day here.
The Ranger mine is owned by Energy Resources of Australia, which is
majority owned by of Rio Tinto. The leak occurred on Saturday,
according to U.K. newspaper The Guardian.
Days earlier, a similar incident occurred at Rio Tinto's uranium
Rossing mine in Namibia.
Mr. Kenyon-Slaney said that the spills had been contained and
there was "no impact on environment."
He said it was "too early [to determine] what the implications
of these incidents will be."
Rio Tinto's chief financial officer, Chris Lynch, who was also
at the investor day, said that as of the end of November, the
company has reached this year's operating costs savings target of
$2 billion and remains on track to deliver $3 billion in cost
savings by the end of 2014 compared with 2012. The company has also
beat this year's exploration and evaluation cost savings target of
$750 million by $50 million.
Rio Tinto said in a presentation it plans to progressively
reduce its capital expenditure to less than $14 billion this year,
$11 billion next year, and less than $8 billion in 2014 after
spending $17.6 billion in capital expenditure in 2012.
-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com
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