Investors,

here is some interesting news with regards to Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto in the mid to late 90's financed Freeports Grasberg Copper & Gold mine expansion in Indonesia to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars.

Perhaps they are looking at South America and more particularily Ecuador this time around.

Rio Tinto said it would like to work with Chinese state-owned firms such as its shareholder Aluminum Corp. of China to develop mining projects around the world, the South China Morning Post reported Friday, citing an interview with Chief Executive Tom Albanese.

The report said Rio Tinto is looking for firms that can bring in capital or had access to infrastructure.

"Rio Tinto has been very successful in discovering some of the biggest new ore bodies in the world," Albanese said.

"Many are in very remote locations that require a lot of infrastructure. We see opportunities for cooperative relationships with senior Chinese SOEs on large-scale development (of such mineral deposits)," he added

Regards,

F.F.