Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said Friday that a decision by Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP) to terminate a proposed deal with Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, won't hamper progress on free trade talks between China and Australia.

The minister declined to comment on whether the Australian government may have been seeking to impose stiff conditions on the deal, which could have contributed to its collapse.

"In all of the discussions that I have had with China on the free trade agreement, the Chinalco deal was not linked to the FTA by us, or by the Chinese," Crean told reporters.

"The Chinalco deal had to meet (Australia's foreign investment) tests if it was still going forward," he said.

Crean said a fresh deal, unveiled earlier Friday, which will see Rio Tinto enter into an iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU), may raise some competition concerns.

However, he noted that Australia's competition watchdog, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, had in recent times approved a proposal by BHP to take over Rio Tinto. BHP backed out of that original deal.

The ACCC wasn't immediately available for comment Friday.

-By Rachel Pannett, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-6208-0901; rachel.pannett@dowjones.com