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Source: Reuters -
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The Rudd government's rejection of a Chinese state-owned firm's takeover bid for debt-riddled miner OZ Minerals will not affect another Chinese entity's plans to buy a stake in resources giant Rio Tinto, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says.
Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on Friday the government would not endorse aspects of China's Minmetals' $2.6 billion bid for OZ Minerals if a South Australian copper and gold mine near a weapons testing range was included in the deal.
But Tanner said the government could approve a Chinese takeover of OZ Minerals if the terms were changed.
"It's not clear what the outcome will be, and there is the possibility a revised deal will be worked out and put to the government at some point," Tanner told Sky News on Sunday.
The minister said the treasurer's decision on the Minmetals-OZ Minerals deal would not necessarily affect a bid by Chinese aluminium maker Chinalco, another state-owned corporation, to buy a $AU27.69 billion stake in Rio Tinto.
"Not at all. You really need to look at these things on a case-by-case basis," Tanner said.
"To be honest, I don't know whether any of the Chinalco bid circumstances involve defence weapons testing ranges, but I suspect they don't.
"So this shouldn't be seen as some kind of (pre-determination) or the scene setter for a decision on the Rio-Chinalco proposition."
Minmetals has thrown OZ Minerals a lifeline through a $AU2.6 billion takeover proposal as the Australian miner struggles to refinance $AU1.3 billion in debt.
But Swan said on Friday the federal government would not endorse the deal if a $AU1.15 billion South Australian copper and gold mine was included in the transaction, citing national security concerns.
The Prominent Hill mine is near the Woomera Prohibited Area - a weapons testing range.
Tanner said the OZ Minerals situation, where a weapons testing range was near a mine site, was "unusual".
"That is, it is intimately connected with a long-standing weapons testing area the Australian defence forces have used over many years, and clearly that does raise issues that don't apply in other circumstances," he said.
"I don't think too much should be read into this decision because it does involve a pretty unusual element that typically won't be there in other similar decisions."
The Foreign Investment Review Board is assessing Chinalco's bid to buy a $US19.5 billion ($AU27.69 billion) stake in Rio Tinto.
