Rio Tinto feels that the valuation gap between BHP Billiton's GBP 75 billion hostile offer is widening and can now only be rescued by a vastly improved bid.

Mr Tom Albanese CEO of Rio Tinto, while speaking on the publication of Rio's quarterly production figures last week, said that "The gap is continuing to widen, now and in the future. We are continuing to pull ahead. We are growing at twice the rate that BHP is."

Mr Albanese said that “Rio can unequivocally show that up to 2015, it will grow at twice the rate of BHP 8% volume growth versus 4% for BHP. BHP has argued that if Rio's share of an array of joint ventures is stripped out, the growth profile changes substantially.”