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Rio Tinto sees no cuts in Africa budget

PHALABORWA, SOUTH AFRICA Nov 04 2008 09:22

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Global miner Rio Tinto sees no reason to cut its exploration portfolio or budget in Africa on the back of the global economic crisis that has hit metals prices, an official said on Monday.

"We are reviewing the portfolio at the moment, but I don't expect there will be material changes," Jonte Beswick, exploration manager for Southern Africa, told Reuters during a visit to the firm's Phalaborwa copper mine in South Africa.

"Everything that is in there has the potential to do well. There is no reason why we should be looking at divesting some of these opportunities at this point."

Beswick also said he expects the overall greenfield exploration budget for Africa next year to be similar to the spending in 2008.

He said Rio Tinto spent globally $101-million on greenfield explorations in the first half of 2008, up from $77-million in the same period of 2007. Africa made up 13% of that figure in 2007 and 16% in 2008.

"We've become more active. In 2004, we had active projects in five countries, now we have active projects in 10 countries within Africa and we are pursuing further opportunities," he said.

Beswick said Rio's ilmenite project in Mozambique was the most advanced at the moment and said it had the potential of producing "significant tonnages" of the mineral. -- Reuters

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Rio Tinto sees no cuts in Africa budget

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