The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is pushing higher with the rest of the resources sector on Tuesday.
In morning trade, the mining giant’s shares are up almost 1% to $118.20.
Why is the Rio Tinto share price pushing higher?
Today’s gain appears to be largely down to a rise in commodity prices overnight. Base metal prices rose amid optimism over further policy stimulus in China.
In addition, there was a promising piece of news out of the miner this morning which reveals that it has made another small acquisition.
According to the release, Rio Tinto has agreed to purchase PanAmerican Silver’s stake in Agua de la Falda. It is a company with exploration tenements in Chile’s prospective Atacama region.
The miner has also entered into a joint venture with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) to explore and potentially develop Agua de la Falda’s assets.
Codelco is the world’s largest copper producer and is owned by the Chilean State. It holds the remaining 42.26% of Agua de la Falda.
Under the agreement, Rio Tinto will acquire PanAmerican Silver’s operating stake for US$45 million and the grant of new smelter returns royalties. Rio Tinto will also acquire 100% of nearby concessions known as the Meridian Property for US$550,000.
Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, commented:
Copper is critical for the global energy transition, which is at the heart of Rio Tinto’s strategy, and Chile is one of the most important sources of world supply as demand for copper in renewables and electrification grows.
Partnerships are essential to find better ways to provide materials the world needs, and we are pleased we can bring our global exploration capability to a joint venture that will be able to access Codelco’s strong local presence and industry expertise. Although this is an early-stage exploration project, we are very excited to be actively exploring in Chile in partnership with Codelco.
