Rio Tinto may sell out of its joint venture with partner Qingtongxia Aluminium to raise cash, Reuters reported, citing sources within the companies. Qingtongxia is going to be taken over by state-owned China Power Investment Corp to form China’s second-largest aluminum producer and wishes to buy back Rio Tinto’s shares to consolidate before the takeover. The joint venture smelter has an annual capacity of 140,000 tons of aluminum. Rio Tinto acquired an interest in the joint venture via its acquisition of Alcan, a Canadian aluminum firm, which left Rio with US$40 billion in debt. Rival miner BHP Billiton recently abandoned a hostile takeover bid for Rio Tinto.
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