PERTH  - Diversified giant Rio Tinto on Tuesday reported it would further its Mine for the future programme by developing and testing technologies in underground tunneling and mineral recovery.

The miner is expanding trials of new shaft and tunnel boring systems, targeted at significantly lowering the time taken up excavate underground, using the announcement of your second tunnel boring trial.

Rio is doing work in partnership with Atlas Copco for the trial, that will ... Read More

PERTH  - Mining giant Rio Tinto is continuing to buy the Pilbara region of Wa, announcing on Monday a further $518-million investment within the world’s first automated long-distance heavy-haul rail network.

The first driverless trains can be launched in 2014, with all the AutoHaul automated train programme scheduled for completion later this current year.

AutoHaul is part on the automation element of Rio Tinto’s Mine into the future initiative that also includes ... Read More

PERTH  - Diversified miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have agreed to a joint $3.8-billion investment that may increase copper production at their Escondida operation, in Chile, within the next a decade.

The two miners on Tuesday announced your time and money in the Organic Growth One project, which would replace the Los Colorados concentrator with a brand new 152 000 t/d plant, and allows access to higher-grade ore located below the existing facilities.

Construction ... Read More

PERTH - Mining giant Rio Tinto has reported record underlying earnings and cash flows for 2011, despite increasingly unpredictable markets.

Underlying earnings reached $15.5-billion to the financial year, an 11% step up from the previous corresponding period, while cash flows from operations improved by 16% to $27.4-billion.

“Today’s set of strong results was primarily driven from the impressive performance of the iron-ore operations and prices for most of our products ... Read More