BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) confirmed Thursday it had bought 1.5 billion U.S. dollars of Rio Tinto shares to cement its 9 percent shareholding in the miner.

    The deal was made to maximize the interests of Chinalco, Lu Youqing, Chinalco's vice president, told Xinhua.

    If Chinalco did not made the deal, its shareholding in the miner would decrease from 9.3 percent to about 6 percent.

    The deal came after Chinalco's 19.5 billion U.S. dollars bid failed last month to raise its stake in Rio Tinto.

Chinalco registers for Rio Tinto rights issue

    BEIJING, June 18 -- Chinalco has registered for the $15.2-billion rights issue of global miner Rio Tinto, but the State-owned non-ferrous mineral processor has not yet made up its mind on whether it wants to participate in the world's fifth largest rights issue or not.

    According to the prospectus released by Rio Tinto on Tuesday, June 15 was the registration deadline for the issue. A Chinalco insider confirmed on June 16 that the company had completed the registration process, reported by Caijing, a business magazine of China.  Full story

FM spokesman: Chinese companies pursue equality, mutual benefit, friendship, honesty in int'l co-op

    BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies will continue to pursue the principle of equality, mutual benefit, friendship and honesty in carrying out trade and investment outside China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said here Tuesday.

    In response to a question about Rio Tinto's withdrawal from a deal with Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) at a routine press conference, Qin said the Chinese government has always supported Chinese companies to carry out international cooperation according to market rules and international practice.  Full story