Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and Aluminium Corp Of China, known as Chinalco, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on developing new mining technology.
In a statement, Rio Tinto said the pair “will explore a partnership to bring forward the next era of mining technology aimed at delivering significant value and re-shaping industry best practice” adding that “the parties aim to draw on their respective strengths to expedite the development of new mining technology and further develop Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future programme.”
CEO Sam Walsh said “Together with Chinalco, we have the potential to deliver even more value for shareholders, by fully realising our pipeline of technology and innovation projects and taking next generation technologies through to full commercialisation and deployment”.
Rio’s statement added that the aim “is to develop and deploy leading-edge technology to create safer working operations, improve environmental performance and increase the productivity of mining operations.”
“The technical cooperation is of great significance for improving efficiency, reducing resource and energy consumption, developing green and safe mines, achieving sustainable development of resources and introducing innovation into economic growth. I hope this commercial cooperation approach of sincerity and mutual benefit can be widely applied into new-type partnerships among major international companies,” said Chinalco chairman Xiong Weiping.
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