It is also a setback to Rio’s plans to increase its exposure to future facing commodities such as copper and nickel, which are key for the global green energy transition. Taking a bigger stake in the Oyu Tolgoi mine, Rio Tinto’s main copper growth project, would help the mining giant achieve that goal.
“Market conditions in the equity and copper markets have changed significantly since the receipt of Rio Tinto’s privatization proposal,” Maryse Saint-Laurent, chair of the special committee, said in the statement. “At the same time, the company has continued to make positive progress on the underground project.”
The world’s second largest miner, which controls and operates Oyu Tolgoi through its 51% stake in Turquoise Hill, offered in March $34 a share to the miner’s minority shareholders, a 32% premium to the closing price the day before the offer was put forward.
The offer came only two months after Rio and the…
