Orissa Diary reported that Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat. Varghes discussed about the business and cultural cooperation between Australia and Odisha with CM Patnaik.

Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese was accompanied by the Sam Walsh, chief executive Iron Ore, Rio Tinto. After the meeting Australian high commissioner to India Peter Varghese said he had discussed the issue to revive mining giant Riot Tinto's iron ore mining project in Odisha in joint venture with the state owned Odisha Mining Corporation. He said that "We will continue our dialogue on the joint venture project. We feel there is prospect that the arrangement will come into play.”

It should be noted that the state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation has rejected a 17 year old joint venture with Rio Tinto terming as not being lucrative, the Australian mining major is keen to revive the INR 11,000 crore pact.

Though Rio Tinto had entered into a JV with OMC in 1995 for development of Gandhamardhan and Malangtoli iron ore reserves in Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts, it did not materialise following dispute relating to the quantity of export of mineral from the state.

Source – Orissa Diary

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