|
|
Rio Tinto Gifts India Mine to Government
Feb 7, 2017 8:59 AM
By Rapaport News
|
|
|
RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto took an unusual decision to hand over the Bunder
diamond mining project in India as a gift to a regional government, after walking
away from the program last year.
In August, the company announced it won’t be continuing with the mining
project because of an internal cost-cutting exercise.
The government of Madhya Pradesh, where the project is
located, will take ownership of Bunder’s assets and infrastructure in
accordance with an order signed last month. The inventory includes diamond
samples recovered during exploration, Rio Tinto said. This will assist the
government in packaging the assets if it wishes to auction the mineral rights
in the future, the group added.
“We believe in the value and quality of the Bunder project
and support its future development, and the best way to achieve that is to hand
over the assets to Madhya Pradesh,” said Arnaud Soirat, chief executive officer
of Rio Tinto’s copper and diamonds division (pictured).
Image: Copyright © 2017 Rio Tinto
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tags:
Arnaud Soirat, Bunder, India, Madhya Pradesh, mining, Rapaport News, Rio Tinto
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|