Rio May Sell Individual Diamond Mines to Lift Shareholder Value

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-largest mining company, said it may consider selling individual mines of its $2.2 billion diamond business should they fetch higher shareholder value.

“The assets are clearly attractive in their own right,” Alan Davies, the London-based company’s chief executive officer of diamonds and minerals, said yesterday at a briefing in Perth. “It’s a complex business, 12 sites around the world, but it’s a standalone diamond business that’s fully integrated from mine to the market.”