The president of Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, said Thursday he was closely monitoring the development of the Chinese government's investigation into the alleged theft of state secrets by four Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) employees.

Chinalco is the single biggest shareholder of Rio.

Xiong Weiping also said his company was interested in mining assets in western Australia, especially in the non-ferrous sector. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an investment forum.

Xiong said he was also following developments of talks between Anglo American PLC (AAUK) and Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN).

"We are closely monitoring this deal, and as a metal and mining group, Chinalco is closely watching the restructuring of the global mining industry," he said.

-Chen Juan contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; (8610) 6588 5848; chen.juan@dowjones.com