save 2000 jobs

Rio Tinto Chief Executive says the Chinalco deal will save thouands of jobs. (Reuters: Christinne Muschi, file photo)The mining company Rio Tinto has been accused of acting out of desperation in striking a $30 billion deal with the Chinese company Chinalco.Under the deal, Chinalco will spend seven billion dollars US in convertible bonds and take a $12 billion minority stake in Rio's mining assets.
The transaction will double Chinalco's stake in Rio to 18 per cent, and requires both shareholder and Australian government approval.Resources commentator, Tim Treadgold, says Rio failed in its negotiations with BHP and is now desperate to reduce some of its debt. Mr Treadgold says he doubts whether the deal is in Australia's best interests.
"It's quite wrong that Rio Tinto hasn't given it's own shareholders the chance to put more of their money into their own company, before management decided to sell part of their company to China," he said.
Mr Treadgold, says with the government set to tighten foreign investment laws, the Prime Minister will have to look at the deal carefully."He will have to decide whether he favours the sale of priceless Australian [assets] to China. I mean where does his allegiance lie, is it with Chinese investment coming in, or Australians owning Australian assets?"
Rio Tinto says the deal will save 2,000 jobs.In December, Rio Tinto announced it would slash 12,000 jobs from its global workforce to reduce mounting debt. Rio Chief Executive Tom Albanese says the move will alleviate debt and save jobs. "This transaction will alleviate about 2,000 job reductions including contractors on projects in Australia," he said."It does position the company to benefit from the trends that are continuing to emerge through the resource industry driven by China."