Rio Tinto Jersey Holdings 2010 Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group, has extended its takeover offer for Riversdale Mining Limited by two weeks to end at 7PM Sydney time on Friday 3 June 2011, unless further extended.

Following recent acceptances to the Offer, Rio Tinto now holds a relevant interest in approximately 73.39% of Riversdale shares.

The free float of Riversdale shares not controlled by either Rio Tinto or TATA Steel has continued to fall and is now only 0.33% of all shares on issue.

Rio received a boost to its bid for the Australian-based coal producer last month when Brazil’s CSN reversed its previous objections and accepted the offer. But India’s TATA Steel, the other major stakeholder in Riversdale with around 26% of shares, continues to rebuff the offer.