Rio Tinto still sees China as key driver of iron ore demand

MELBOURNE - Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto still regarded China as the key driver of iron ore demand due to its continued growth and ongoing urbanization process, local media reported on Saturday.

"The growth in China is still there" and its economy could be stronger than Rio Tinto's previous expect of 7.5 percent, said Sam Walsh, chief executive of the company, at a British Chamber of Commerce luncheon in the country's western city of Perth.

However, he also noted his company has focused gaze on some other developing countries like India and Brazil as well as the Middle East, saying all those places are potential customers of Rio Tinto and the mining giant is ready to benefit from those markets.

"They are going to go through the same urbanization and industrialization process and they're going to need the types of commodities that we in the mining industry supply for that growth, " he said, quoted by the Australian Associated Press.

In his fourth visit to China last month, Walsh said Rio Tinto would continue to expand its iron ore capacity in Western Australia to meet the growing demand from China, its most important market.