15th Apr 2019 08:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC on Monday said it will invest a further USD302 million to advance Resolution copper project located in the US state of Arizona.
The investment will fund additional drilling, ore-body studies, infrastructure improvements and permitting activities, the FTSE 100 miner said.
Rio Tinto is currently looking to progress the project to the final stage of the project's permitting phase. When fully operational, the project will have the potential to supply 25% of the US' copper demand, the company said.
Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said: "Resolution is one of the most significant undeveloped copper deposits in the world and this additional funding demonstrates Rio Tinto's commitment to bring the mine into production."
"The comprehensive permitting process is well underway with the environmental impact study on track to be completed next year according to the regulators schedule."
He added: "The rise of electric vehicles, battery storage, new transmission technology and other green energy innovations are highly copper intensive. We need to prepare now to meet this future demand. Resolution will be well positioned to provide North American manufacturers the copper that is essential to their products."
Rio Tinto shares were trading down 0.5% at 4,749.00 pence each early Monday morning.
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