BHP-Rio JV could be delayed: Rio's Walsh

Rio Tinto Ltd's planned iron ore production tie-up with fellow mining giant BHP
Billiton Ltd in Western Australia's Pilbara region could be delayed by several
months due to regulatory hurdles.
The joint venture, announced in June last year, was originally expected to be
complete by around mid-2010.
"We'd expect that approvals would be more likely later this year than the original
time frame," Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Sam Walsh told a conference during
question time in Perth on Tuesday.
"Work does continue on the proposed joint venture through the three main work areas
of commercial, regulatory and integration, each of which is very complex and
demanding."
The biggest hurdle facing the mining giants is the European Commission (EC), which
in February asked rivals and customers of BHP and Rio about their views on whether
the proposed tie-up would hamper competition in the iron ore market.
BHP abandoned its bid to take over Rio Tinto in 2008 after objections from the
European Commission amid similar concerns.
BHP and Rio in October last year ditched a plan to jointly market up 15 per cent of
the joint venture's output, which was considered anti-competitive.
WA Premier Colin Barnett has recently criticised the miners for not being in contact
with him enough to discuss a proposed increased in royalties if the deal goes ahead.
When the deal was announced, Mr Barnett said the transaction had been structured to
avoid paying $1 billion in stamp duty.
On other joint ventures, Mr Walsh told the conference that Rio Tinto had wisely
chosen its partner for the Simandou project in Guinea, Aluminum Corporation of China
(Chinalco).
The Chinese giant would assist the partnership to access lower cost infrastructure,
he said.
While Simandou iron ore was very high grade, the joint venture was challenged by
"very extensive distances with basically no infrastructure or port that could handle
large scale production".
Mr Walsh declined to comment on the detention and trial in China of Stern Hu and
three other Rio Tinto executives.