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Rio Tinto's peace offering rejected by angry Chinalco
11.06.09
China's spurned Chinalco metals giant has rejected an olive branch from Rio Tinto chief executive after the London-listed mining giant pulled out of the pair's alliance, it emerged today.
Rio was forced by angry shareholders to withdraw from its huge deal with Chinalco on Friday after months of wrangling.
Instead it opted for a tie-up with arch-rival BHP Billiton over their Western Australia iron ore operations.
The move left the Chinese spitting, with the country's official news agency condemning what it described as Rio's "perfidy".
According to reports in Australia today, Rio chief executive Tom Albanese made a peace offering of a stake in the BHP-Rio iron ore alliance.
But the offer was quickly rejected by the Chinese.
