Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto has approved a $293 million investment for continued expansion and studies of its 58.7 percent owned Iron Ore Company of Canada in order to increase its annual concentrate production by 50 percent to 26 million mt by 2011.
Accordingly, a total of $193 million (with Rio Tinto contributing $102 million) will be spent for magnetite plant expansion, to reach an annual capacity of 22.8 million mt, and a $75 million capital expenditure (with Rio Tinto's share $44 million) will be invested in the completion of a feasibility study on the third-phase expansion and for the purchase of long-lead items.
Including earlier preparatory work, a total of $768 million has now been invested in the three-phased expansion of Iron Ore Company of Canada. Rio Tinto's own share in this investment amounts to $451 million.
The investment is in line with Rio Tinto's goal to reach a global annual iron ore capacity of more than 600 million mt. Since 2003, the company has spent or committed $11 billion for implementation of this goal.