Rio Tinto Adds to Majority Stake in Aluminum Smelter JV

By Ben Glickman

Rio Tinto will acquire an additional nearly 12% interest in the joint venture overseeing an Australian aluminum smelter, bolstering the company's majority stake in the project.

The company said it had agreed to buy Mitsubishi's 11.65% stake in Boyne Smelters, which owns and operates the Boyne Island smelter in Gladstone, Australia. The purchase brings Rio Tinto's stake to 73.5%, the company said.

The financial terms of the sale weren't disclosed. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of the year.

Rio Tinto also recently announced an agreement to buy Sumitomo Chemical's 2.5% interest in the joint venture. Following the deal, the other partners will be YKK Aluminium, UACJ Australia and Southern Cross Aluminium, each of which own less than 10% of the project.

Boyne Smelters has a capacity of more than 500,000 metric tons of aluminum a year, according to Rio Tinto's website.

Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 10, 2024 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT)

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