What goes around, comes around... mining giant Rio Tinto agreed on Friday to sell half of its stake at Guinea's Simandou giant iron ore prospect to Chinese state-run Chinalco – the same whose US$ 19 billion investments have been rejected by Rio last year. The deal came after a number of controversies such as Guinean government threating to take Simandou back and the trial of four Rio Tinto workers jailed in China accused of bribery and stealing state secrets, which will be held next week.
The agreement sets that Rio Tinto will divest its stake at Simandou from 95% to 48% and will receive US$ 1.35 billion. Estimatives at the prospect indicates it has over 2.2 billion tonnes of iron ore grading 66-67%.
