Companies

Chalco, Rio Tinto to sign agreement on Guinea project

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-29 11:41

Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd (Chalco) and Rio Tinto Group will sign an agreement for development of a large iron-ore mine in Guinea today, the Shanghai Securities News reported, without saying where it got the information.

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Chalco suspended its shares from trading ahead of a signing ceremony today in Beijing. Aluminum Corp's parent company, known as Chinalco, announced the event without giving details of the agreement. Rio will attend the ceremony starting at 3:30 pm local time, according to an invitation seen by Bloomberg News.

Chinalco in March signed a non-binding accord to pay $1.35 billion for a stake in Rio Tinto's Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. The State-owned company is "watching closely" for opportunities to invest in other projects abroad, including Oyu Tolgoi, a Mongolian copper venture between Rio and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, Xiong Weiping, chairman of both Chinalco and Chalco, said on March 29.

Chalco's shares are expected to resume trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai on July 30, the Beijing-based company said in a statement. Rio rose 0.3 percent to A$71.23 ($63.72) at 10:45 am in Sydney.

David Luff, a Rio spokesman based in Melbourne, declined to comment. Yuan Li, head of communications with Chinalco, also declined to comment on the signing ceremony.