Rio Tinto Workers Detained in China

Rio Tinto, which is traded on stock exchanges in London and Sydney, launched a rights issue to raise money instead. Chinalco took up a $15.2 billion portion of that issue to maintain its 9% stake in the company.

The Chinese steel industry group also has criticized Rio Tinto's plan to form a joint venture with Billiton combining their mining assets in western Australia. The group said the tie-up might reduce competition, raise prices and hurt customers.

China's Commerce Ministry said the breakup of the Rio Tinto-Chinalco deal would not harm Beijing's ties with Australia. But he warned that the deal with Billiton might face an anti-monopoly investigation by Chinese authorities.

Associated Press Writer Rohan Sullivan in Sydney and Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this report.