W Australia Expects Notification Of BHP-Rio Asset Merger Soon
September 02 2009 - 4:25AM
Dow Jones News
Western Australia State Premier Colin Barnett said Wednesday he
will receive formal notification within a few days of BHP Billiton
Ltd. (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto Ltd.'s (RIO.AU) plans to merge their
iron ore assets in the Pilbara region of Northwest Australia.
Barnett, who met recently with BHP Chief Executive Marius
Kloppers, also said that BHP and Rio will negotiate with the state
on royalties.
The proposed deal, which will combine the two miners'
facilities, was announced in June after the collapse of Aluminum
Corp. of China's, or Chinalco's, bid to take a larger stake in
Rio.
"We have agreed that we will meet every two months on the
proposed BHP-Rio merger of their iron ore and other operations,"
Barnett told reporters.
The BHP chief executive "told me that he would be providing me
with a formal notification of their plans in the next few days and
I guess that will trigger the process of looking at royalties, of
stamp duty on the transfer, also access to the rail infrastructure
and the like and the modernization of state agreements, all of that
will probably take six to twelve months to complete."
On the issue of concessional royalties, Barnett said "there is a
willingness to negotiate because basically BHP, Rio Tinto have no
choice, they must."
-By Cynthia Koons, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4691;
cynthia.koons@dowjones.com