Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) is ramping up in Western Australia, which could be the company鈥檚 next major copper project.
Speaking , group executive of growth and innovation Stephen McIntosh said the company鈥檚 main goal for now is to determine whether Winu was a 鈥淩io Tinto scale鈥� project.
The copper-gold-silver discovery, a potential major boost for the company鈥檚 growth options, is about 130 km. from Newcrest鈥檚 Telfer copper-gold mine in the East Pilbara. It鈥檚 also close to numerous copper prospects discovered recently by juniors and 350 km southeast of Port Hedland, the world鈥檚 largest bulk export port.
Winu copper-gold-silver discovery, a potential major boost for the company鈥檚 growth options, is about 130 km. from Newcrest鈥檚 Telfer copper-gold mine in the East Pilbara
Rio has so far drilled 24 holes at the site and will continue extensive drilling in months to come as part of its $250 million exploration program. If the company finds that Winu is not a 鈥淭ier 1鈥� asset, it would move on to other exploration projects.
Analysts have questioned Rio鈥檚 ability to scale up its copper business quickly without making an expensive acquisition. The company recently had to聽聽from the $5.3 billion underground expansion of its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mine in Mongolia. Originally scheduled for early 2020, it鈥檚 now expected to happen in the third quarter of 2021.
In December, Rio sold聽聽in Indonesia, the world鈥檚 second-biggest copper mine, as part of a deal that put an end to聽聽between operator Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and the country鈥檚 government.
Rio Tinto believes the copper market聽聽amid expectations that bigger power grids around the world and an electric-vehicle boom will boost demand, while聽.
Last month, the world鈥檚 second largest miner decided to聽invest a further , in the U.S. state of Arizona, as part of its bid for increasing its exposure to the red metal.
However, industry analysts at CRU say the coming online of major projects 鈥� Anglo鈥檚聽聽(2022), Teck鈥檚聽聽(2021) and聽聽(already in production) will momentarily eliminate the gap between supply and demand.
The research group has cut its forecast deficit and now expects the market will be in a small surplus this year and next, but short again by 250,000 tonnes by 2023.