And Rio Tinto said yesterday it had committed an additional $US1.3 billion ($A1.2 billion) to the development of the huge Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
"Rio Tinto is accelerating the development of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea with the approval of a further $US211 million for continued studies and $US1.117 billion of funding for commitments for early works and procurement," the company said in a statement.
"This funding will allow the project to move forward towards first shipment of ore by mid-2015."
The announcement brings the total amount spent or committed to the project to $US3 billion, including $US700 million paid to the Guinean government to secure the right to mine in two sections of the huge deposit.
"This funding highlights Rio Tinto’s commitment to honouring the settlement agreement reached with the government of Guinea in April this year, and maintains the rapid build-up of in-country infrastructure in order to deliver first shipments of ore by mid-2015," said Rio Tinto’s iron ore chief Sam Walsh.
Back in April, Rio Tinto settled a long-running dispute over Guinea’s huge Simandou iron ore field, with the West African nation agreeing to take a stake of up to 35%.
Rio Tinto said that it was working towards securing regulatory approvals to allow it to enter into a $US1.35-billion deal to sell a 44.65% stake in Simandou to Chalco, Rio’s biggest shareholder.
Rio shares lost 1.7% or $1.17 to end at $65.08.
And Thursday morning, Rio Tinto revealed that it had moved to expand its involvement in the uranium industry.
Rio is already the world’s 4th biggest uranium producer and said in a statement that it had agreed to pay $C578 million ($A550 million) to acquire Canadian uranium explorer Hathor Exploration Ltd.
The move topped a hostile bid by Cameco Corp which had been chasing Hathor for some time and comes amid a busy time for Rio with the company committing more money for iron ore in Africa, uranium in Australia, but less for the aluminium business.
Shareholders of Vancouver-based Hathor would receive $C4.15, Rio said in a statement. The bid represents a 55% premium to Hathor’s closing share price on August 25, the day before Cameco made its $C3.75-a-share offer.
Hathor’s board unanimously told shareholders to accept the Rio offer.
Hathor controls the undeveloped Roughrider uranium deposit in northern Saskatchewan in Canada.
According to statements from Hathor the Roughrider prospect is estimated to have at least 17.2 million pounds of indicated uranium resources. Hathor has reportedly said it wants to almost double its annual uranium output to 40 million pounds by 2018.
Rio said that buying Hathor would boost its global uranium strategy and complement existing exploration assets in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Rio has uranium interests at Rossing in Namibia, but its Australian subsidiary, Energy Resources of Australia, has seen output and grades fall at the Ranger mine in the Northern territory because of bad weather and flooding over the past couple of wet seasons.
ERA last week started raising half a billion dollars (of which Rio will pay more than $A340 million of that cost and pick up any shortfall from an issue to shareholders) to expand Ranger.
Cameco is the world’s largest uranium producer and revealed its cash bid for Hathor in late August after talks with Hathor’s board failed to lead to an agreement.
Rio’s offer for Hathor also comes a few days after it revealed plans to cut its global aluminum business by around 20% by selling an estimated $A8 billion of assets in Europe, the US. and Australia and New Zealand.
That in turn means Rio will focus on its operations in Canada and the heart of the old Alcan business.
