NOW the recent news on Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto!!

Rio Tinto surges to record amid talk of further bid activity
Independent, UK - 3 hours ago
By Nick Clark Shares in the mining giant Rio Tinto soared to a record close as the markets anticipated further bid activity in the wake of its rejection of ...
Bidding war talk sends Rio Tinto shares soaring Scotsman
Steelmakers fear duopoly if BHP bid for Rio Tinto is allowed Times Online
Rio Tinto: BHP hostile bid would face hurdles including multiple ... Financial Times
National Post - TheStreet.com
all 1,181 news articles »

Rio Tinto completes Alcan takeover The Age, Australia - 20 hours ago Major miner Rio Tinto Ltd says the company's $41 billion takeover bid of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan Inc has closed, with 98 per cent of shares ... For sale: Rio Tinto coal mines Gillette News Record Teck Cominco seen as suitor for Rio Tinto US coal mines Globe and Mail Alcan reports Q3 results Canada.com Reuters.uk - MarketWatch all 64 news articles »

UK Stocks Gain, Led by BG Group, Rio Tinto, British Energy Bloomberg - 19 hours ago BHP Billiton Plc, the world's largest mining company, and Rio Tinto Group advanced. British Energy Group Plc climbed after Goldman, Sachs & Co. added shares ... European Stocks Pare Losses; Rio Tinto, Anglo American Advance Bloomberg Rio Tinto rejects 3-for-1 share offer from BHP Billiton UPATE Hemscott Thursday Lunchtime Market: Rio Tinto lifts FTSE, but banks ... CityWire.co.uk Hemscott - Rocky Mountain News all 25 news articles »

London shares firmer midmorning; Rio Tinto up on rumours of ... CNNMoney.com - 17 hours ago 9, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- London shares were firmer midmorning although off highs following rumours of a counter bid for Rio Tinto ... London shares close down; NY falls on Bernanke speech; Rio Tinto ... CNNMoney.com London shares lower midday; NY seen lower; Barclays denies ... CNNMoney.com London shares up early on; M&A and specific newsflow provides ... CNNMoney.com CNNMoney.com all 151 news articles »

China Post

Rio Tinto lifts Sydney; exporters trip up Tokyo MarketWatch - 17 hours ago In Australia, markets gained on a surge in Rio Tinto Plc shares after the miner rejected a $110 billion, all-share approach from top global player BHP ... Asia-Pacific markets: Asian bourses witness another wild ride Daily Times ASIA MARKETS Asian markets mostly down, exporters trip Tokyo MarketWatch Asian Markets Mixed On Friday AHN all 30 news articles »

Canada could benefit from BHP/Rio deal

VANCOUVER–A BHP Billiton Ltd. takeover of rival Rio Tinto PLC could end up being a boon to a Canadian mining industry that's been beset by foreign takeovers this past year, analysts said.

The potential combination of two giant seniors would no doubt result in antitrust regulators demanding the sale of a number of assets that could be picked up by smaller rivals, including Canadian mid-cap companies.

"There's been a lot of talk about a hollowing out of Canada's mining sector with the loss of quite a few large-cap companies, so this could be a chance for (Canada's) mid-caps to pick up some of the pieces to become larger players within the sector," said UBS analyst Tony Lesiak.

BHP ended months of speculation yesterday when it confirmed it had approached Rio Tinto in a deal that could be worth $159 billion (U.S.).

While Canadian icons such as Inco and Falconbridge have disappeared from the landscape north of the 49th parallel, midcaps such as Lundin Mining Corp. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Hudbay Minerals Inc. and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. could emerge as potential suitors for BHP/Rio cast-offs.

"Cash-rich Ivanhoe, for example, has quite the platform for putting deals together," said one analyst.

He said the Vancouver-based company is already implicated in a potential BHP/Rio deal because Rio has a strategic stake in Ivanhoe and its Mongolian Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project.

Ultimately, analysts reckon antitrust regulators will end up looking at four specific areas if a BHP/Rio deal actually goes through: iron ore, aluminum and alumina, uranium, and copper assets. Once BHP announced its offer, speculation immediately started mounting over the fate of Canada's aluminum giant Alcan Inc., which has just been taken over by Rio Tinto.

But analysts said the timing of BHP's offer for Rio Tinto is particularly telling.

"BHP let Rio Tinto mop up Alcan and then stepped in to buy Rio," said Tony Robson, co-head of mining research at BMO Capital Markets. "Clearly, because BHP is bidding for Rio after the Alcan deal means it wants the assets. They're a great prize, especially the hydro-electric power (assets) in Quebec and B.C."

He said BHP would surely honour the continuity agreements and various obligations in place between Rio, Alcan and Quebec's provincial government.

Another aspect of Canada's mining community that could also be dramatically affected is the north and its dynamic diamond sector.

Rio Tinto owns 60 per cent of the high-profile Diavik diamond mine in a joint venture with Aber Diamond Corp. And BHP owns 80 per cent of the rival Ekati diamond mine.

"There have been rumours Rio wants to sell out of Diavik and a BHP/Rio deal might mean both assets could be sold off or merged to create a larger competitive presence in the north," said one analyst. "If there's a sale, a company such as Aber could end up being a big beneficiary."

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This essay was written in c 1959. It was copied from the Canadian Register of Commerce & Industry held in the Western Libraries at the University of Western Ontario. The original article should be consulted since this copy may contain some errors. The text and/or the images are being made available to researchers for scholarly purposes. They should not be used for commercial gain without the permission of the author or publisher.

RIO TINTO GROUP IN CANADA

Uranium properties, with a combined capacity of more than 19,000 tons of ore a day, the largest on the North American continent, constitute the most important underlying assets of the Rio Tinto Group of companies in Canada.

Rio Tinto Management Services Limited, a subsidiary of The Rio Tinto Mining Company of Canada Limited, is, in fact, managing companies whose uranium contracts come to a grand total of more than $630,000,000. Within five years, from April, 1953, to May, 1958, Algoma, the largest uranium camp in the world had come into being fully. Of the area's eleven huge mills, capable of handling a total of 35,000 tons of ore a day, seven belong to The Rio Tinto Mining Company of Canada Limited.

Built and brought into operation at an aggregate cost of nearly $200,000,000 for the entire Rio Tinto Group, the combined daily production rate of these Rio Tinto properties is now over the scheduled total of more than 19,000 tons of ore a day.

Rio Tinto (Canada) Limited was actually incorporated March 2nd, 1955, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Comparty, Limited, of London, England. It immediately acquired a substantial interest in Algom Uranium Mines Limited, which was thereafter administered by a management subsidiary, Rio Tinto Management Services Limited.

1956--The purchase of the mining interests in Canada of the man behind the Algomauranium finds, Mr. Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York-Toronto financier, followed on May I st, 1956.

The name of Rio Tinto (Canada) Limited was changed to The Rio Tinto Mining Company of Canada Limited and its capital was increased.

The 85-year-old Rio Tinto Company of London, England, today holds voting and beneficial control of Rio Tinto Canada. Mr. Hirshhorn is chairman of the board of directors of the Canadian company and retains a substantial share holding in the company.

In addition to Canada, the London company, through subsidiaries, has extensive mining interests in other parts of the world, including large copper holdings and nickel prospects in Rhodesia and uranium in Australia.

Algoma Uranium Area--The Canadian company's principal assets, at the present, consist of its interest in associated companies which hold government uranium contracts representing some 60% of the forecast capacity of the Algoma area.

Of these contracts, that held by Northspan Uranium Mines Limited for $275,000,000 is almost certainly the largest single contract of its kind in the world.

Algoma Uranium Mines Limited comes close with its contract of $206,910,000, whilst Milliken Lake Uranium Mines Limited at $94,525,000 and Pronto Uranium Mines Limited at $55,000,000, follow with substantial contracts.

These four companies together have eight mines and seven concentrator plants.

Pronto has been in production since October, 1955, with its one mine. Algoma's two mines came officially into production in February, 1957. Northspan is now in production with its three mines, "Lacnor", in production since the end of 1957, "Panel", in production since March, 1958, and Spanish American in production since May, 1958. The Milliken Lake mine came into production at the end of April, 1958. All these properties are in the Blind River region of northern Ontario.

Capitalization and Officers--Rio Tinto Canada is capitalized at $15,000,000 of authorized 5% debentures due May Ist, 1963, of which $14,668,000 are outstanding, and 80,000,000 no par common shares of which 44,227,615 shares were outstanding as at December 31st, 1957.

Officers and directors of The Rio Tinto Mining Company of Canada Limited include Joseph H. Hirshhorn, chairman of the board; Hon. Robert H. Winters, president; Dr. E. B. Gillanders, executive vice-president; W. B. Malone, vice-president and treasurer; Dr. D. R. Derry, vice-president (exploration); W. H. Bouck, vice-president (legal); Henry Blaise, J. N. V. Duncan, Sam Harris, Senator S. A. Hayden, Rt. Hon. C. D. Howe, B. R. P. MacKenzie, Leo Model, Frank Petito and Sir Mark Turner, directors.

last updated 2 Aug 2005)

BHP Billiton Plc

Shareholders

On Oct. 6, 2000, Billiton Plc announced that it has acquired 95% of the outstanding common shares of Rio Algom Limited. The acquisition was completed on Nov. 29, 2000.
On Dec. 15, 2000, the Rio Algom Ltd’s U.S. uranium mining business was sold to Billiton Base Metals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Billiton Plc.
In 2001, Billiton Plc. and BHP merged to BHP Billiton Plc.
On June 3, 2005, BHP Billiton became the major shareholder of WMC. As of August 2, 2005, BHP Billiton owns 100 percent of WMC Resources Ltd. shares.

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Head Offices

BHP Billiton Plc
1-3 Strand
London WC2N 5HA
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44-20-7747 3800, Fax: +44-20-7747 3900, email: corporate@bhpbilliton.com

Neathouse Place
London SW1V 1LH
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44-20-7802 7000, Fax: +44-20-7802 7332

BHP Billiton Limited
Bourke Place
600 Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Australia
Tel. +61-3-96093333, Fax: +61-3-96093015

> View company's press releases
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> Download Annual Report · Sustainability Report

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Subsidiaries

(uranium related ones only)

• (100%) Billiton Base Metals
  • (100%) - Reno Creek ISL project, Wyoming, USA
  • (100%) - Quivira Mining Co
    • - Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico, USA
  • - Lisbon, La Sal, Utah, USA

• (100%) - WMC Resources Ltd
  • (100%) Olympic Dam, Roxby Downs, South Australia
  • (100%) Yeelirrie Project, Western Australia

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See also: BHP Shareholders for Social Responsibility

Australia uranium mining - con'td

An even bigger hole - Update

By John Busby

Oct/10/2007

Headquartered in Australia, BHP Billiton has just issued its Annual Report for 2007 in which its plans for the Olympic Dam copper, gold silver and uranium mine expansion as an open pit in South Australia are discussed. The company is a global player in minerals, oil and gas extraction, but although it has another big copper mine, Escondida in Chile, Olympic Dam is its only uranium mine. Currently operating as an underground mine, Olympic Dam was acquired from WMC under the watch of the leaving CEO Chip Goodyear, now passing the leadership to chemical engineer Marius Kloppers, who has appointed Graeme Hunt as President for Uranium and Olympic Dam development, perhaps to be his greatest misfortune. The rise in the spot price of uranium, which might have added value to the take-over investment in WMC has turned into a disadvantage. The production in the current Olympic Dam underground mine has fallen (and continues to fall) and in order to fill the deficit in supply and fulfil forward selling contracts BHP Billiton is having to buy expensive product on the open market, while earning only the previously negotiated price. Readers of "The big hole" (1) will know that the expansion project is subject to a pre-feasibility and feasibility study, which is expected to take four years ending in 2009, after which four years of overburden excavation will proceed the extraction of the first uranium in 2014. Part of the pre-feasibility study has been to find the extent of the deposits by drilling. Total resource The drilling results, now included in the 2007 Annual Report (2), indicate a total resource of 7,738 million tonnes of mixed ore containing 67 million tonnes of copper (0.87% grade), 1.9 million tonnes of uranium (0.029% grade U3O8 *), 2,320 tonnes of gold (0.30 grams/tonne) and 12,460 tonnes of silver (1.61 grams/tonne). What must be understood is that to obtain its metal contents this huge amount of ore has to be extracted, milled and chemically processed and that it occurs below 350 metres of overlying rock. Around two to three times the quantity of the ore body will have to be mined and set to one side of the open pit, so that ore extraction can continue unhindered by excessive overburden. But the low grades of all the constituents of the combined ore must be disappointing to the company, in particular those of the gold and the uranium. The gold content in South African mines lies between 8 to 10 grams per tonne and costs US$ 12,000/kg to extract. Gold deposits of 0.30 grams/tonne (0.3 ppm) alone would in comparison require the mining and milling of 27 times the amount of ore, while the extraction process yield would drop. The costs of extracting gold from such a deposit could well exceed the current price of gold of US$ 23,000/kg. When considering further investment in processing equipment to produce uranium from ore stocks and tailings as remnants of an exhausting mine, as at the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory of Australia, the economic cut-off grade was taken as 0.08% U3O8. In the case of the Rössing mine, in production in Namibia since 1976, the ore grade is now only around 0.035% U3O8. Production has continued ever since, dropping only recently in 2006 to 3,077 tonnes U from 3,147 tonnes U in 2005 and plans to extend its production to 2021 are under consideration.(3) This must be somewhat incongruous to the part-owners of Ranger and Rössing, Rio Tinto, which is seemingly applying different economic cut-off criteria when considering extensions to the two existing mines. For comparison, there is no current project under review to open a new mine based on a sole uranium deposit in the same order as the ore grade (of 0.029% U3O8) in the case of the combined ore in the Olympic Dam total resource. This is an important consideration when contemplating the viability of other potential projects in Australia if there are no co-products in a combined ore augmenting the low uranium ore grades averaging 0.045%.(4) In the case of the Olympic Dam expansion the components of the combined ore are extracted by means of an extremely complex set of chemical processes, needing vast quantities of chemicals, water and energy. Moreover the product yield of such processes is never 100%, so the contents of the ore body will not be fully recovered. It turns out that the uranium, far from being an asset, contaminates the copper and has to be removed from it before it can be sold. If exported there would be nuclear proliferation issues as access to uranium could be achieved by separating it from the copper. No wonder the company has cautiously reminded investors that the expansion is substantial and requires the completion of the feasibility study and board approval. Combined ore The officially claimed ore grades anticipated in November 1983 for the Olympic Dam underground mine project were 2.5% copper, 0.08% uranium, 0.60 g/tonne gold and 6.0 g/t silver. Construction commenced in 1986 and the first combined ore was milled in June 1988, 11 years after the first drilling in 1975. Production of uranium began at 910 tonnes in 1988-89, rising to a peak of 4,500 tonnes in 2000, dropping to 2,867 tonnes in 2002, but reaching a second peak of 4,370 tonnes in 2004. It is now in rapid decline with only 3,382 tonnes produced in 2006.(5) Production of the co-products of copper, gold and silver has declined in parallel. The fall in production is linked to the halving of the ore grades over the last few years of operation, so that when its continuation as an open pit was proposed the anticipated ore grades were 1.0% copper, 0.04% U3O8, 0.45 g/t gold and 2.2 g/t silver. Although the total resource is now considered to be much bigger than before, leading to even greater media excitement, the ore grades are even lower at, 0.87% copper, 0.029% U3O8, 0.30 g/t gold and 1.61 g/t silver, calling into question the viability of the open pit method, not least because the ore body occurs below 350 metres of rock. Extraction efficiencies The extraction of the co-products from the combined ore is an extremely complex chemical operation.(6) Inevitably such processes do not have a 100% yield. The supplies include process water, ammonia, diesel, frother, oxygen, cyanide, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, caustic, ferrous sulphate, coke, zinc dust, silica flux, nitre and as reagents, cobalt and guar gum. Sulphuric acid is made on site from sulphur dioxide resulting from the copper sulphide smelting, but may require augmentation. The historical extraction efficiencies were: Copper ca. 90% Uranium ca. 65% Gold ca. 56.5% Silver ca. 54.4% This means that around 10% of the copper and 35% of the uranium ends up in the tailings pond.(7) The extraction efficiency for the much reduced grades will be worse and the company is reviewing the chemical processes needed, perhaps with a view to restoring the yields by the introduction of more advanced processes. However, applying the above extraction efficiencies to the contents of the combined ore at the grades now anticipated, the mining and milling of 40 million tonnes per annum (as was originally intended) would produce around:- 320,000 tonnes of copper 6,440 tonnes of uranium (7,600 tonnes U3O¬8) 6,780 kg gold 35,000 kg silver To restore the anticipated uranium production of 15,000 tonnes a year (U) would mean that the combined ore mined and milled would have to be increased to amount to 93 million tonnes a year instead of 40 Mt/y, though the copper production would increase to 744,000 tonnes. Because of the lower ore grades of the constituents in the combined ore and other processing factors, it is possible that the uranium extraction efficiency will decline to 40-50% a year, in which case at 40 Mt/y the production would be 4,900 t/y U (5,800 t/y U3O¬8) and to restore the anticipated production to 15,000 t/y U would require the mining and milling of 122 million tonnes per year. Implications The reduction in ore grades requires a correspondingly inverse increase in the amount of ore to be mined and milled for the same metal production. It also means that the amount of overburden to be removed increases by the same multiplier. Two decades ago the diesel needed for the excavators and haultrucks would have been relatively cheap, but now Australia is a net importer of diesel, now refined from crude oil priced at US$ 80+. One of the advantages of nuclear power is claimed to be its immunity to rising fuel costs and its role as an alternative to liquid fuels for transport by the electrolysis of water for the production of hydrogen. If however, its uranium based fuel is dependent on a doubling or tripling of the amount of diesel needed to produce it, its immunity will be lost. From 2009 to 2013, when the primary overburden will be removed and displaced, the price of diesel can only be conjectured. Based on the above analysis it is possible that the Olympic Dam expansion may not go ahead, certainly not at the anticipated uranium production rate of 15,000 tonnes per annum. Depending on the price of copper futures in 2014 as set in 2010, it may go ahead on the basis of a restricted copper production of 300,000 tonnes per annum, with a moderate uranium production of 5,000 tonnes a year. Most likely the ore from the open pit, if it goes ahead, will simply be transferred to the existing processing plant, as by then the underground mine will be approaching exhaustion. Whether this moderate continuation of its mining activities would justify the initial investment in overburden removal is somewhat doubtful. It would be as well in the meantime to warn that the nuclear "renaissance" - if relying on Australian uranium supplies - may well stall. "The big hole" has got bigger, but its size is nothing to that into which the politicians and bullish media will sink when it fails to go ahead, particularly as its uranium product has been "sold" already to the Chinese, the Indians and the Russians. If new fleets of nuclear power stations are to be built on the huge and pretentious projections claimed for the Olympic Dam expansion by politicians and journalists and if the BHP Billiton board indeed turns the project down (as it probably will) there will be much aggravation. (1) The big hole (2) http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bbContentRepository/bhbpannualreport07.pdf (3) http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/uprod.html (4) http://pmc.gov.au/publications/umpner/docs/commissioned/ISA_report.pdf (5) http://www.uic.com.au/emine.htm (6) http://odx.bhpbilliton.com/docs/OreProcessingFlowDiagram.pdf (7) Extraction efficiencies are derived from an analysis of quarterly and annual reports of WMC (1988 to 2005) and BHP Billiton (2005 to 2007) by Gavin Mudd, Monash University, Melbourne. * Uranium is shipped as triuranium octoxide (U3O8) or "yellow cake" in drums. The uranium content is found by multiplying the yellow cake weight by 0.848.

Spot the uranium in this story ...

BHP's Rio offer may spark $170 billion bid war

By James Regan Fri Nov 9, 3:06 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc's (RIO.AX) rejection of a $140 billion all-share offer from BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX) is likely to trigger rival bids from resource companies awash with cash from record commodity and stock prices.

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A marriage of BHP (BLT.L) and Rio (RIO.L) would create the world's biggest mining force, capable of controlling the global flow of fleet loads of iron ore, copper, coal and other commodities for industrial use.

Analysts said BHP Billiton's approach may be just the first shot in a battle that could draw in other parties and push up the bidding for Rio above $170 billion.

A host of interested parties, from Chinese oil companies to Siberian nickel miners, have the potential to launch rival offers after massive stock market floats have brought companies excess funds, supplying the capital needed to finance a bid.

"If you put together a consortium of Chinese, they could be out there, as well as the Russians, given there's a lot of oil money being generated," said Shaw Stockbroking analyst John Colnan.

Global mining leader BHP said on Thursday it had approached third-ranked Rio with a 3-for-1 share offer, but Rio was quick to rebuff the offer as too low.

The BHP offer was initially pitched at a 14.4 percent premium. Rio shares gained nearly 16 percent to A$130.90 in Australian trade, while BHP fell 1.8 percent, putting Rio about 3 percent above the indicative offer price.

Rio would not say whether it had received other approaches, although analysts said the company's broad range of operations and healthy profit outlook made it an attractive target.

The Rio board was open to other offers and a higher BHP bid, said a source familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named.

Only hours earlier, Rio had mopped up the last of the shares in Canadian aluminum maker Alcan, which it acquired for $38.1 billion after trumping an offer by Alcoa Inc. (AA.N).

Credit ratings agency Moody's said it may put BHP's rating under review for a possible downgrade if a formal offer is made for Rio, reflecting uncertainties about integration risk, regulatory restrictions and financial policies.

The global mining boom means both companies are generating piles of cash, with BHP Billiton expected to post 2007/08 net profit of $15.7 billion, while Rio is expected to post profit of about $7.6 billion.

At current prices, Rio trades at a forward earnings multiple of 17.6 times, and BHP at about 14.3 times.

REGULATORY CONCERNS

BHP has not said how it would address potential anti-trust issues, particularly in iron ore where the two companies command 30-35 percent of the seaborne market, say analysts. BHP and Rio mine a combined 277 million tonnes a year and are expanding rapidly. Only Brazil's CVRD (VALE5.SA) mines more.

However, Rio's acquisition of Australian and Canadian iron ore miner North in 2000 raised few alarms with regulators.

Given neither BHP nor Rio sells much into the highly regulated U.S. and European markets, Tim Barker of BT Financial Group said he doesn't see any anti-trust issues.

"The scarcity and the difficulty of bringing on new projects, sourcing people, makes these sorts of consolidations attractive," said Denis Donohue, senior portfolio manager of Suncorp Metway Investment Management, which owns shares in BHP and Rio Tinto.

Rio's rich iron ore, coal and copper mines, as well as its ranking as the world's top aluminum maker, would offer diversification from oil for China's PetroChina (601857.SS), which has a market value exceeding that of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) combined.

"One possibility would be Chinese sovereign funds taking a blocking stake in Rio Tinto," said FW Holst analyst Rob Craigie.

In Russia, the world's biggest nickel miner Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) has said it will look overseas for more assets after completing the largest foreign acquisition by a Russian company.

Norilsk already explores with Rio Tinto in the Russian Far East and with BHP in northwest Russia and western Siberia.

BHP, which merged with Billiton in 2001, almost went bankrupt in the late 1990s after a disastrous foray into copper mining in the United States, which raised the company's penchant for spreading its commodity base far and wide.

Rio is also a combination of a merger, in 1997.

British-based Rio Tinto Co was formed in 1873 to mine ancient copper workings at Rio Tinto near Huelva in Spain. In Australia, Consolidated Zinc was incorporated in 1905 to treat zinc bearing mine waste from the outback.

($1=A$1.08)