Rio Tinto Will Shutter Argyle Mine Next Year

By Oliver Griffin

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) will shutter its Argyle diamond mine in 2020 when economically viable diamond resources will be exhausted, the company confirmed Friday.

The Anglo-Australian miner, the world's top exporter of iron ore alongside Vale SA (VALE), said following the last production at the mine, which is located in Australia, that it anticipates it will take five years to decommission and dismantle the mine and undertake rehabilitation. This will be followed by a further period of time for monitoring, the company said.

Rio Tinto first said in March 2018 that the mine had reserves to produce diamonds until 2020.

The Argyle mine has produced roughly 865 million carats of rough diamonds since production began in 1983. The mine became famous for its production of pink diamonds, which account for just over 1 million rough carats--or 0.13%--of production.

Rio Tinto has unveiled its most recent collection of pink diamonds at the mine, which includes three fancy red diamonds and weighs a total of 56.28 carats. The tender is being showcased in Perth, Australia, Hong Kong and New York before bids close in October.

Since production at Argyle began, less than 1,700 polished carats have been sold in the annual Argyle pink diamonds tender. If you were to combine all of the diamonds included in the annual pink diamond tenders, "you would barely be able to fill two champagne flutes" the company said.

Write to Oliver Griffin at [e-mail]; @OliGGriffin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 12, 2019 10:48 ET (14:48 GMT)

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