Rio Tinto has moved closer to taking over Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines, owner of a vast Mongolian mining project, after Rio pledged up to $4.3bn in a financing deal that will boost its stake to 42 per cent.
Rio and Ivanhoe, the vehicle of mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland, have also suspended arbitration surrounding their joint development of Oyu Tolgoi, the Mongolian deposit that is expected to be one of the world’s biggest new sources of copper and gold.
Under the complex agreement the Anglo-Australian group will finance the completion of Oyu Tolgoi in exchange for options that allow it to raise its equity stake in Ivanhoe from 35 per cent to 49 per cent by January 2012.