UPDATE: Chinalco VP: Open To Alumina, Bauxite Talks With Rio
August 24 2009 - 12:08AM
Dow Jones News
Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), also known as Chinalco, is
willing to open discussions with Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto
Plc (RTP) for cooperation in bauxite and alumina production,
Chinalco's vice president Lu Youqing told Dow Jones Newswires
Monday.
Lu was responding to comments by Rio Tinto's chief financial
officer Guy Elliott, reported by the Australian Financial Review
Monday, that the miner is in very early stages of talks with
Chinalco on a possible bauxite and alumina deal.
"We've indicated that we're willing to talk, but I know of no
other details to share for now," Lu said.
Elliott told analysts the talks have only just started and are a
long way from materializing, the Australian Financial Review
said.
Reached Monday, a Rio Tinto spokeswoman declined to comment.
The indications from both sides of renewed talks signal a thaw
in relations after Rio Tinto abandoned a $19.5 billion alliance
with Chinalco earlier this year, turning instead to a sizable
equity raising to ease its debt burden. Even after Rio Tinto
employees were accused by the Chinese government of bribery and
commercial espionage in relation to annual iron ore price talks,
Chinalco had also taken pains to distance itself from the affair,
publicly saying that the Rio case wasn't linked to the failed
Rio-Chinalco deal.
Chinalco is still Rio Tinto's largest shareholder, with a 9.3%
stake, and the two companies hold adjacent bauxite deposits in the
Australian state of Queensland. They have held talks on possible
cooperation there in recent years.
Bauxite is an ore used to manufacture aluminum. Alumina is an
oxide of aluminum, largely used to bolster the light metal's
resistance to weathering.
-By Chuin-Wei Yap, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588 5848;
chuin-wei.yap@dowjones.com