Friday, September 24,
Global miner Rio Tinto said it will spend $230 million to raise the capacity of its Iron ore operations in Australia’s Pilbara region by 5 million tonnes to 230 million tonnes a year by the first quarter of 2012.
The investment is in addition to the $91 million approved earlier this year to add 5 million tonnes to take capacity to 225 million tonnes, Rio Tinto said in a statement.
This round of investment will go to expanding the Dampier Port and raise ship loading capacity and rail stock, it said.
Rio Tinto and fellow miner BHP Billiton have proposed to combine their Pilbara operations into a $116 billion Iron ore joint venture in hopes of saving more than $10 billion through synergies.
However, the deal has been delayed by regulatory reviews, raising speculation that the joint venture could be scrapped by the end of this year, the companies’ own deadline for securing approvals.
Source: Reuters
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