Rio Tinto Says Africa Key to Growth Even After Costly Missteps

Africa remains largest untapped mineral resource, Baatar says
Rio lost billions on earlier deals, sparked regulatory probes

An iron-ore boom in West Africa, which may have deposits to rival Australia’s ore-rich Pilbara region, is motivating African Minerals, as well as miners Rio Tinto Plc and ArcelorMittal, to spend $25 billion on 3,170 miles of new and rebuilt railways and 11 new ports in West Africa, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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November 1, 2017 at 2:35 PM EDT

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Rio Tinto Group said resource-rich Africa is still central to the company’s growth strategy despite a succession of failed investments and scandals in the last 10 years.

The continent will expand its production and consumption of metals over the next decades as the economy grows and becomes more industrial, Bold Baatar, Rio’s chief executive of energy and minerals, said in a speech at Bloomberg Intelligence’s LME Week Forum in London.

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