Rio Tinto takes $450m hit on Ivanhoe Mines

RIO Tinto has had more than $C460 million ($448m) wiped off the value of its investment in Canadian subsidiary Ivanhoe Mines after a company report showed a potential $US1.3 billion ($1.25bn) blowout in the capital cost of the Oyu Tolgoi mine and a one-third rise in expected operating costs.

Despite Rio having a 51 per cent stake in Ivanhoe, the technical report on the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia was released to the market without a review or sign-off from Rio or the Rio-appointed Oyu Tolgoi board and does not represent Rio’s views on the project.

Matt Chambers