Commodity Online
MUMBAI: Global mining giant Rio Tinto is on a roll in India. In a major boost to mining of gold and diamond resoures in India, Rio Tinto has discovered an immensely rich diamond resource of 37 million tonnes in the northern India's Madhya Pradesh state.

A top Rio Tinto official said the discovery of diamond resource in India will tremendously boost the company's plans of investing hundreds of million dollars in the country.

Rio Tinto India Managing Director Nik Senapati said the company has identified an inferred resource (of diamond) of 37 million tonnes in Madhya Pradesh. "It is estimated that the grade of the inferred resource is 0.7 ca rats per tonne. Rio Tinto has completed an Order of Magnitude study," Senapati said.

Asked about the size of investment that the company would make after it gets mining lease and environmental clearance for diamond mining project, Senapati said it would depend on further evaluations, but could be in “hundreds of million dollars.”

“The investment size would depend on further evaluations such as distribution of diamonds in the pipes, hardness of rocks and so on. But, it would be in the order of hundreds of millions dollars,” he said.

Rio Tinto has already spent about $60 million in India as part of its exploratory works in a span of over four years. Of the total amount, it has spent the maximum on its Bunder diamond project in Madhya Pradesh.

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