Rio Tinto chief to press on for BHP venture

Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese said the miner would keep seeking regulatory approval for a $116 billion (£75bn) joint venture with BHP Billiton after a report that the deal faces collapse.

Global miners BHP and Rio expect that the iron ore joint venture in Western Australia will fail to get regulatory approval, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday.

The joint venture would generate $5bn in cost savings annually for BHP. Albanese said the technical arguments for the joint venture remained strong.

Rio and BHP officials in Australia declined to comment on the newspaper report, which quoted mining executives saying competition regulators in various jurisdictions had rejected the two miners' arguments that the venture would not have price-setting power.

The venture, unveiled last December, is awaiting approval from regulators in Australia, Europe, China and elsewhere.