Rio Tinto Looking for Ways to Extend Argyle’s Life
October 22, 03
Rio Tinto has awarded a contract for an exploratory decline tunnel to find out if the life of the Argyle diamond mine in Australia can be extended.
The Argyle mine is an open pit mine, due to run out of ore by 2008. The company is investigating the possibility of creating an underground mine, extending Argyle’s life by more than 10 years.
The diversified miner is going to invest $35 million on the 2.2-kilometer tunnel, a project that will take 18 months to complete. Last Friday Rio Tinto awarded the contract to Roche Mining, a unit of Downer EDI Ltd.