Rio in alliance with Chile's CODELCO

Rio Tinto Ltd and Chile's state-owned copper mining company have entered into an
alliance to jointly pursue `next generation' copper mining and processing technology
development.
Rio Tinto said in a statement on Thursday that it had teamed up with Corporación
Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO) to "pursue step change technology development
in the areas of surface mining, underground mining and copper mineral recovery".
"The aim is to deliver safer, more energy efficient and lower cost of production
from both current and next generation open cut and deep underground mines whilst
operating with a lower a overall environmental impact," Rio Tinto said.
Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese said the alliance, plus Rio Tinto's Mine of
the Future program, would equip the companies to meet an increasing demand for
copper.
Under the Mine of the Future program, Rio Tinto remotely controls some of its
operations in Western Australia's Pilbara region from a Perth-based technology hub -
some 1,500km away from the mines.