The Argyle Diamond Mine is up for sale…

March 29th, 2012 by Noam Flint

Rio Tinto, the second largest mining company in the world and the owner of the Argyle Diamond Mine, considers selling its diamond business as a part of new strategic planning.

This announcement arrives just five weeks after they have found Australia’s largest pink diamond ever found – a 12.76 carat in its rough.

The Rio Tinto Diamond Mines

Among the diamond mines Rio Tinto owns you can find the world’s most famous diamond mine – the Argyle Diamond Mine which is responsible for 90% of the world’s natural pink diamonds, The Diavik diamond mine in Canada, The Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe and The Bunder diamond project in India.

Even though the diamonds business future seems very positive to Rio Tinto’s chief executives it might be to small of a scale for them valued only at 1.25 Billion Dollars while the company is worth 120 Billion dollars. The strategic decision consists of the will to increase their iron and ore mining businesses.

Interestingly enough, BHP Billiton announced similar strategy last November.