Rio Tinto pays Can$73 million for 49% of Ivanhoe Mines

Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) announced today that it paid Can$73 million for 49% of Ivanhoe Mines. Rio Tinto acquired an additional 3,700,000 common shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited, increasing Rio Tinto’s ownership in Ivanhoe Mines by 0.5 per cent to a total of 361,858,442 common shares or 49 per cent through a privately negotiated share purchase agreement. Shares in Ivanhoe Mines dipped as much as 21% yesterday after the Mongolian government sought a bigger share of the Oyu Tolgoi project.