Rio Tinto to sell Mason Resources Corp. shareholding

LONDON, Aug. 4, 2017 /CNW/ - Rio Tinto plc ("Rio Tinto") announced that, pursuant to a share purchase agreement between Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited ("Rio Tinto Holdings"), Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd and Mantos Copper (Bermuda) Limited, Rio Tinto Holdings and Turquoise Hill have agreed to sell, respectively, 7,455,058 common shares and 6,209,699 common shares of Mason Resources Corp. ("Mason Shares") to Mantos Copper at a price of $0.20 per share in cash for an aggregate purchase price of $2,732,952.

Rio Tinto Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto.  Rio Tinto also indirectly owns approximately 50.8 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Turquoise Hill, and is therefore deemed to have had indirect beneficial ownership over the Mason Shares to be sold by Turquoise Hill.

Rio Tinto Holdings will dispose of an aggregate of 7,455,058 Mason Shares (representing approximately 9.58 per cent of the outstanding Mason Shares) and Turquoise Hill will dispose of an aggregate of 6,209,699 Mason Shares (representing approximately 7.98 per cent of the outstanding Mason Shares).  The Mason Shares to be sold by Rio Tinto Holdings and Turquoise Hill collectively represented approximately 17.56 per cent of the outstanding Mason Shares, and constitute all of the Mason Shares beneficially owned (or deemed to be beneficially owned) by Rio Tinto.  After giving effect to the foregoing sale, Rio Tinto will no longer own (or be deemed to beneficially own) any Mason Shares.

The sale of the Mason Shares is expected to be completed within the next seven days and is part of Rio Tinto's ongoing review of its investment holdings.

An early warning report in respect of the above transaction will be filed under the profile of Mason Resources on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and may also be obtained by contacting the person named below.

The head office of Mason Resources is located at Suite 1650 – 1066 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 3X1, Canada.

The Mantos Copper (Bermuda) Limited investors are Audley Mining Advisors Limited, a special purpose vehicle established in Guernsey, and Orion Mine Finance, a mining-focussed investment fund based in New York.  Mantos Copper is a mining company focused on the extraction and sale of copper.  The company owns and operates two mines in northern Chile, Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde.

SOURCE RIO TINTO PLC

[email protected], www.riotinto.com, Follow @RioTinto on Twitter; Media Relations, United Kingdom; Illtud Harri, T [phone], M [phone]; David Outhwaite, T [phone], M [phone]; David Luff, T [phone], M [phone]; Investor Relations, United Kingdom, John Smelt, T [phone], M [phone]; David Ovington, T [phone], M [phone]; Nick Parkinson, T [phone], M [phone]; Media Relations, Australia, Ben Mitchell, T [phone], M [phone]; Investor Relations, Australia, Natalie Worley, T [phone], M [phone]; Rachel Storrs, T [phone], M [phone]; Rio Tinto plc, 6 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4AD, United Kingdom, T [phone], Registered in England No. 719885; Rio Tinto Limited, 120 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia, T [phone], Registered in Australia ABN 96 004 458 404