Rio Tinto Plans Dollar 100 Million Investment in State
Unveiling expansion plans, UK-based diamond major, Rio Tinto says it plans to invest USD 75-100 million on a pre-feasibility study of its diamond mining project in Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking to the media in Mumbai, Bruce Cox, Managing Director of the IK based foirm said: “We plan to start a pre-feasibility study at the Bunder Diamond project in Madhya Pradesh and invest USD 75-100 million by early 2010.”
He added that that the company could invest a further USD 300-400-million over the next 4-5-years, if the reports of the study proved the viability of the project.
Rio Tinto, the first foreign company to be granted prospecting licences in the country, has already discovered a cluster of eight diamondiferous lamproites at Bunder.
Cox said his company would be delighted to be mining and marketing Indian diamonds in the not-too-distant future.
