Rio CEO Sparks Renewed Guinea-Mine Spat With Billionaire
This article is for subscribers only.
Rio Tinto Group said it would be interested in regaining control of disputed iron-rich ground in Guinea it was stripped of in 2008, prompting the recipient of the land to claim Rio has no viable plan for its development.
“We know that there’s iron ore there and clearly that could be attractive to us depending on how it was offered,” said Rio Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh, who was head of the company’s iron-ore unit at the time the project was seized and subsequently given to a business linked to Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz. “If it were attractive, we’d be interested.”