Chilean minister hails Chinalco's mining investment

Chilean Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez on Wednesday hailed an investment deal between China's mining giant Chinalco and Rio Tinto.

According to the agreement signed last Thursday, the Rio Tinto mining group will get an investment of 19.5 billion U.S. dollars from Chinalco while the Chinese company will obtain stakes of Rio Tinto's assets in Chile's Escondida, the world's largest cooper producer.

We are very satisfied that a company like Chinalco, with the importance it has, has decided to invest a great amount of money in our country, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said Chinalco will buy about 14 percent of Rio Tinto's 30-percent interest in Escondida.

Source: Xinhua