Rio Tinto's chairman-designate resigns

SYDNEY (AFP) — Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced Monday that the executive selected as the company's new chairman had resigned from the board and would not take up the position. Rio offered no explanation for the abrupt departure of Jim Leng, who was unveiled as the new chairman in mid-January, in a two-paragraph statement to the Australian stock exchange announcing the development. "Rio Tinto announces that Jim Leng, a non-executive director, has resigned from the boards with immediate effect and will therefore not take up the post of chairman of the boards in April as previously planned," the statement said. It went on to say that incumbent chairman Paul Skinner would stay on until mid-2009, concluding: "The process to appoint a new chairman is underway."Leng, the deputy chairman of India's Tata Steel when he was headhunted for the Rio job, said less than four weeks ago that he was "absolutely delighted" to be joining the company. "Rio Tinto has a superb set of assets and strong prospects," he said at the time. Rio confirmed last week that it had held talks with Chinese aluminium giant Chinalco over the sale of stakes in some of its operations. Shares in the company rose 2.61 Australian dollars (1.70 US), or 5.3 percent, to 49.36 in early trade on the Australian stock exchange.