OZ decision won't affect Rio

THE decision to block a Chinese state-owned company's takeover bid for OZ Minerals will not interfere with Beijing's move for a massive stake in Rio Tinto, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says. The Government announced on Friday that it would not allow Chinese state-owned Minmetals to conduct a $2.6 billion takeover of the third-largest miner OZ Minerals if it included the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine near the Defence Force's Woomera weapons testing site. Treasurer Wayne Swan cited "national security interests" when rejecting the proposal on Friday. But Mr Tanner told Sky News yesterday that the decision could still be changed if the deal did not include the Prominent Hill mine. Chinese state-owned Chinalco is also seeking to take almost a $28 billion stake in Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. However, Mr Tanner said the Oz Minerals decision would not affect the Chinalco bid. "You really need to look at these things on a case-by-case basis," he said. "I don't know whether any of the Chinalco bid circumstances involve defence weapons testing ranges, but I suspect they don't."