BHP, Rio Forced to Share Pilbara Railways

It seems as though Fortescue Metals, considered a "third force" in Australia's Pilbara, has succeeded in its bid to secure acceess to the region's strategically-significant railyway lines, currently operated soley by heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan today opened three key lines to third-party access, forcing the current duopoly to negotiate with other mining firms for entry contracts for the next 20 years.

Fortescue truly entered the big league of iron when it delivered its first shipment of Pilbara ore to China in May of this year.

(For just an idea of how much tonnage the special delivery trains can haul, watch this YouTube video)

> BHP Billiton, Rio Rinto angry on open Pilbara rail line [Herald Sun via news.com.au]

Norwegian Pension Fund Sheds Rio Stake

Taking issue with serious environmental concerns at the Grasberg gold mine in Indonesia -- the world's largest -- Norway's Finance Ministry has decided to liquidate its $850 million holding in Rio Tinto, a partial owner in the project.

The stake accounted for half of a percent in a fund that invested the country's petroleum wealth in foreign stocks and bonds. The move to remove Rio as a component in the fund is one of the more prominent examples of a major institutional investor withdrawing its holdings over ethical issues in the last several years.

The main souce of concern at the Grasberg mine was the dumping of tailings into a nearby river, which according to Friends of the Earth, has resulted in severe toxicity of the surrounding aquatic life. The mine's main operator, Freeport-McMoRan has also come under fire from shareholders for employing the Indonesian military personnel for security purposes -- controversial because of the military's involvement in human rights abuses in the region.

> Norwegian wealth fund sells stake in Rio Tinto [Times of London]

China Skyscraper Construction to Support Commodities Boom

Rejecting suggestions that the global demand for steel and other building materials is headed toward a significant downturn, Rio Tinto has cited recent research on Chinese skyscraper construction to justify continued optimism in commodities markets. Last month, the mining group reported H1 profits of $5.5 billion.

A report by McKinsey & Co. forecasts that China will build 50,000 skyscrapers in the next 20 years -- the equivalent of 10 NYCs.

Some analysts had been forecasting a dip in Chinese investment after the Olympics, but Rio is predicting that there will be a post-games boom. The company cited research from McKinsey, the management consultancy, which said the scale and pace of urbanisation would continue at an unprecedented rate.

By 2025, the report predicts that China will have 221 cities with more than a million inhabitants, compared with 35 in Europe today. As well as the need for huge pending on infrastructure, McKinsey projects that China will build between 20,000 and 50,000 skyscrapers, many of them in less developed interior provinces far from Beijing and Shanghai.

> Chinese skyscraper builders to put up equivalent of 10 New Yorks, says Rio Tinto [Guardian]