Rio Tinto Applies for Diamond Mining Lease in India

BANGALORE, INDIA--July 9, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) (London), the world's third-largest diamond mining group, has applied for a diamond mining lease at its Bunder project in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh. The company has spent more than $19 million to evaluate the mine and plans to invest an additional $34 million toward further evaluation of the deposit. The company aims to undertake the exploration of 40 million to 70 million tons at a grade of between 0.3 and 0.7 carats per ton. This is supposed to be at least three times greater than the grade of diamond obtained from the only other hard rock diamond mine in the country, the Panna mines in Madhya Pradesh.