Rio, Chinalco in Talks Over Mongolia Investment, Herald Says

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group is in discussions with Aluminum Corp. of China to jointly invest in Mongolia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, without saying where it got the information. The preliminary talks are about Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold development, the newspaper said. Rio, Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and the Mongolian government signed an agreement that would allow construction of the project to start in the first half of next year. The project’s proximity to the Chinese border will require the cooperation of authorities in Beijing, the newspaper said. Chinalco, Rio’s biggest shareholder, is its most likely partner in the venture, the Herald said. To contact the reporter on this story: Nichola Saminather in Sydney at nsaminather1@bloomberg.net