Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have announced that they have jointly decided to end plans for an iron ore production joint venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia since "it has become increasingly apparent that regulatory approvals of the joint venture are unlikely to be achieved".
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the BHP Billiton-Rio Tinto JV, proposed in December 2009, looked to achieve integration of the companies' entire production activities in Western Australia, a venture worth US$116 billion.
Japan Fair Trade Commission, Korea Fair Trade Commission, the European Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission were among the institutions investigating the merger.
Both parties had recently been advised that the proposal would not be approved in its current form and some regulators had indicated they would require substantial remedies that would be unacceptable to both parties, including divestments, whereas others had indicated they would be likely to prohibit the transaction outright.