Rio Tinto says Vale iron ore mine sale approved

SYDNEY — Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto on Monday said the 750 million US dollar sale of an iron ore mine to Brazilian giant Vale had won official approval and would go ahead shortly. Rio said Brazil's National Defence Council had given the go-ahead to the Corumba mine sale, which follows an 850 million US dollar deal to sell Vale potash projects in Argentina and Canada. "The acquisition is expected to close shortly," Rio said in a statement, referring to the iron ore mine. Rio, which sank 38 billion US dollars into the red after buying Canada's Alcan aluminium group in 2007, said it had off-loaded 6.6 billion dollars in assets over the past 18 months. The company lined up a 19.5 billion US dollar cash injection with China's Chinalco before rejecting it in June in favour of a massive 15.2 billion dollar rights issue and an iron ore joint venture with rival BHP Billiton.