MARKET TALK: Rio Tinto Restarts Iron Ore Studies After New Tax

6th Jul 2010 05:11

0411 GMT [Dow Jones] Rio Tinto (RIO.AU) Iron Ore CEO Sam Walsh says reworked Aussie mining tax has prompted restart of studies into expansion of operations in Pilbara. Rio put all growth projects in Australia under review after original tax proposal in May. "We're in the process of re-opening studies in relation to our Pilbara expansions," Walsh says. "With the certainty that we've now got with the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, we are now reconfiguring those numbers and the impact back into our projects." The restart should be seen as a positive, although some will wonder whether the review was just negotiating tool in tussle to change original tax proposal. Skeptics took similar view on Xstrata (XTA.LN) decision to halt early works on A$6 billion Wandoan project citing the tax; resumed spending today citing significant progress on reworked tax. ([email protected]) Contact us in Singapore. 65 64154 140; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 06, 2010 00:11 ET (04:11 GMT)