Rio and Vale in talks on infrastructure sharing in Guinea

Tuesday, 28 Feb 2012

According to the Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto Ltd is in talks with Brazilian mining giant Vale about sharing rail and port infrastructure for their two Simandou iron ore projects in Guinea, in a significant shift for the Anglo Australian miner.

The newspaper reported that sources close to Rio have said that talks between the two miners were taking place before the signing of a final infrastructure agreement with Guinea's government.

The discussions are being held in parliament over Rio's ability to access the coal infrastructure that Vale is constructing in Mozambique where both miners have coking coal projects.

Rio had previously denied that Vale or its partner, BSG Resources, had any rights to develop the Northern half of the Simandou project, which the Guinean governments removed from Rio's ownership in 2008.

(sourced Businessspectator.com.au)