China Direct

Rio Tinto in partnership with China and Mongolia

CBI member, Rio Tinto has announced that it will continue to work with its three Chinese partners and the Government of Mongolia in cooperation over the Mongolian Oyu Tolgoi copper & gold mine.

The Oyu Tolgoi mine, which is situated on Mongolia’s southern border with China, is a core part of Rio Tinto’s efforts to shift its portfolio from iron ore. Rio Tinto owns a 33.5% in-direct stake in the mine, sharing equity with the Government of Mongolia.

Rio Tinto has been the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi mine since 2010, and expects it to be fully operational by 2020. The mine contains reserves that make it one of the world’s largest known copper and gold deposits. Rio Tinto expects that with the reserves currently identified, Oyu Tolgoi will remain operational for over 50 years.

In July 2018, Rio Tinto brought three of its Chinese partners onto the project (China Machinery Engineering Corporation, Harbin Electric International Company Ltd. and Power Construction Corporation of China), by signing an agreement relating to the design and delivery of a power station to independently supply electricity to the Oyu Tolgoi mine. The profitability of the mine was under question, since the Mongolian Government currently pays China $150 million a year for electricity.

Last week, Rio Tinto announced that it has extended its agreement with the Government of Mongolia to supply Oyu Tolgoi with independent electricity, and will also supply electricity to an extension of the copper mine at the site.

Analysts have welcomed these deals in the knowledge that Rio Tinto is literally sitting on a gold mine. Furthermore, Oyu Tolgoi is already demonstrating its potential. Despite not yet being fully operational, extractions have been taking place there since 2001. By December 2015, total shipments had reached 1.5 million tonnes of concentrate, the majority of which was transported to China. The Oyu Tolgoi mine has the capacity to process both copper and gold ore on site.

According to Rio Tinto Copper & Diamonds chief executive, Arnaud Soirat, “The power agreement is a positive step forward for Oyu Tolgoi and outlines a path to secure reliable, long-term power for the operation […] which will help ensure that the operation reaches its full potential to the benefit of all shareholders.”

Please read more about Rio Tinto’s operations at Oyu Tolgoi here.

CBI Member China Successes September 2015

 

Dear CBI members and partners,

Please find our monthly members success summary for September 2015 attached below for your review.

Members mentioned include:

• Airbus
• Baker & McKenzie
• Benoy
• Bentley Motors
• Boeing
• BP
• British Airways
• British Film Institute
• Deloitte
• Diageo
• EY
• Heathrow Airport Limited
• Imperial College London
• Jones Lang LaSalle
• Linklaters
• PwC
• Rolls-Royce
• Shell
• Simmons & Simmons
• Standard Chartered
• Starbucks Coffee Company
• UBM
• University of Birmingham
• University of Nottingham
• University of Sheffield

Download CBI China, Celebrating CBI Member Success in China, September 2015

CBI Member Successes in China - Snapshot of Year of the The Horse

 

Dear CBI members and strategic partners,

China Direct would like to share with you a snapshot of CBI members' successes in China through 2014. We hope that you found our new format easy to use, visual and informative and wish you all every success for the forthcoming year of the sheep.

Please do keep sending us your updates and press releases so that your business can also be highlighted in 2015.

Thank you.

Download CBI Beijing, Member Milestones in China, 2014

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Inward Investment Report 2013/14

 

U.K.Trade & Investment (UKTI) recently released its Inward Investment Report 2013/14.

Highlights include:

• During the 2013/14 financial year, the U.K. attracted the most inward investment projects since records began in the 1980s.

• In total, 1,773 investment projects were set up by foreign businesses, up 14% on last year.

• These projects are estimated to bring with them over 111,000 new ans safeguarded jobs.

• The leading industry group for both projects and jobs was advanced manufacturing.

Please click here to access UKTI's full report.

CBI Member Successes in China Dec-Jan 2013/14

 

 

Dear CBI members and partners,

A very happy New Year of the Horse to you.

Kindly find our latest briefing for December 2013 & January 2014, which highlights the successes of a number of CBI members in China and covers 81 members, including (by alphabetic order):

 

• ABB
• Accenture
• Airbus
• Amazon.com
• Aon
• Arup
• Atkins
• BAE Systems
• Baker & McKenzie
• Balfour Beatty
• BBC
• Benoy
• Bentley Motors
• BMW Group
• The Boeing Company
• British Airways
• The British Film Institute (BFI)
• BSI
• BT
• Burberry
• Burson-Marsteller
• Cardiff University
• Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
• The City of London
• Clifford Chance
• ConocoPhillips
• Deloitte
• Deutsche Bank
• Devro
• DHL
• DLA Piper
• Eversheds
• Fiat Group
• Ford Motor Company
• Foster + Partners
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Gatwick Airport
• GE
• Harvey Nash
• Hays
• Heathrow Airport Limited
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• HSBC
• Huawei
• IBM
• InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
• Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
• Jones Lang LaSalle
• J.P. Morgan
• Kingfisher
• King’s College London
• KPMG
• Lancaster University
• L’Oréal
• Marks & Spencer (M&S)
• Microsoft
• MIRA
• Mott MacDonald
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Philips
• Pinsent Masons
• The Premier League
• Prudential
• Rio Tinto
• Rolls-Royce
• SABMiller
• Saint-Gobain
• Shell
• Siemens
• Standard Chartered
• Starbucks Coffee Company
• Thales
• UBM
• The University of Aberdeen
• University College London
• The University of Edinburgh
• The University of Exeter
• The University of Nottingham
• The University of Sheffield
• The University of Surrey
• The University of Ulster 

Please click here to access the member success summary.

Rio Tinto and Chinalco explore technology partnership

 

 
CBI member Rio Tinto and Chinalco recently announced that they will explore a partnership to bring forward the next era of mining technology aimed at delivering significant value and reshaping industry best practice.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Rio Tinto and Chinalco, the two parties aim to draw on their respective strengths to expedite the development of new mining technology and further develop Rio Tinto's Mine of the Future programme.

The collaboration brings together Rio Tinto's global leadership in partnering to deliver mining innovation with the resources and expertise of Chinalco's research and development centres. The aim is to develop and deploy leading-edge technology to create safer working operations, improve environmental performance, and increase the productivity of mining operations.

The focus will be on enhancing the value of both companies' partner networks by allowing new ideas to be developed and applied at a faster pace and at a lower cost.

Sam Walsh, Rio Tinto Chief Executive, said, "We have been in the business of producing metals and minerals for over 140 years. We wouldn't have been as successful as a business without finding better ways of working and adapting to a changing world. The future leaders in our industry will be those companies that stay ahead of the game and keep applying fresh thought and practices to the business of mining. Together with Chinalco, we have the potential to deliver even more value for shareholders by fully realising our pipeline of technology and innovation projects and taking next generation technologies through to full commercialisation and deployment."

Xiong Weiping, Chairman of Chinalco, said, "Chinalco embarks on a development path of transformation and innovation featuring the expansion from aluminium to comprehensive mining and from domestic to overseas markets. Chinalco and Rio Tinto have explored and set up a new model of partnership as two international companies. The technical cooperation is of great significance for improving efficiency, reducing resource and energy consumption, developing green and safe mines, achieving sustainable development of resources, and introducing innovation into economic growth. I hope this commercial cooperation approach of sincerity and mutual benefit can be widely applied into new-type partnerships among major international companies."

Please click here to read the full press release by Rio Tinto.

Xinjiang Government visit CBI HQ and sign cooperation agreement

 

 

(CBI Deputy Director-General Neil Bentley and Li Jingyuan, Secretary General of the Secretariat of the China-Eurasia Expo, sign the cooperation agreement at the CBI's headquarters in London)

Last Friday, a delegation from Xinjiang in northwestern China visited the CBI's headquarters in London, and both parties signed the Cooperation Agreement between the CBI and the Secretariat of the China-Eurasia Expo.

The CBI and the Secretariat aim to make positive contributions to strengthening ties between businesses in Xinjiang and Great Britain through public promotion, mutual visits, trade fairs and expositions, business travel, consultancy, etc.

Xinjiang has significant opportunities for British business, particularly in energy, minerals and manufacturing equipment, agricultural products, and pharmaceuticals.

With high levels of growth projected for the region, equipment and advanced technologies will be needed in these fields.

The China-Eurasia Expo aims to promote steady development, multilateral cooperation, and economic stability throughout the Eurasian region, and the third China-Eurasia Expo, running under the theme
of "Mutual trust, mutual benefit" will be held in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in September 2013.

Highlights on Xinjiang include:

     • Accounting for one-sixth of China's land mass, Xinjiang is the westernmost region in the country,  occupying a strategic geographic location, which allows it to function as a bridge between Asia and  Europe.

     • Key sectors in Xinjiang include oil and gas, agriculture, minerals, etc.

     • Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Xinjiang reached US$396 million in the first 11 months of 2012, 
up 30.8% compared to a year earlier.


     • Examples of CBI members active in Xinjiang include:

          o In January 2013, CBI member Rolls-Royce announced that it won a US$75 million contract to 
supply PetroChina with equipment and related services to power the flow of natural gas through Line
3 of China's West-East Pipeline Project (WEPP), the world's longest pipeline and a key part of China's drive towards cleaner energy consumption.

Please read more here.

 o In January 2013, CBI member Atkins was commissioned to design the new Donghu central leisure
area in Karamay. Commissioned by the Karamay Construction Bureau, the project, which evolved from Atkins' masterplan completed last year, will feature landscaped scenic parkland with facilities such as a waterside climbing wall and white water rafting alongside a lake with boating berths and a single span bridge. On completion, the park will be the primary location for leisure in Karamay and cover an area of 3.41 square kilometres.

The project is Atkins' biggest and most complex multidisciplinary project in mainland China to date.

Please read more here.

o CBI member Unilever has worked on promoting sustainable agriculture in Xinjiang, sending scientists
to the region to train farmers in the efficient use of fertilisers, which has helped increase crop output.

o In November 2012, CBI member INEOS announced that INEOS Technologies had licensed its  Innovene PP Process for the manufacture of homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact 
copolymers to China Shenhua Coal to Chemical Xinjiang Coal Chemical Company for its new project
in Xinjiang.

Please read more here.

CBI Member Successes in China July 2012

 

 

Dear CBI members and subscribers to China Direct,

Kindly find a link to the very latest CBI member successes in China for July 2012 below.

Thank you.

Download CBI China, Celebrating CBI member success in China, July 2012 

 

China demand continues to drive Rio Tinto Investment

 

 

CBI member Rio Tinto is taking the next steps in its phased investment programme by committing US$4.2 billion to develop its tier one iron ore business.

The investment covers US$3.7 billion for expansion of the Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia and US$501 million for further infrastructure development at the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

Tom Albanese, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, said, "We are directing investment to projects that will generate the most attractive returns for shareholders and are resilient under any probable macroeconomic scenario. Our superior Pilbara iron ore business has one of the highest margins in the industry, low capital intensity of investment, and a strong track record of completing projects on time and budget.

"Today's announcement is in line with our long-held strategy of investing in and operating long-life, low-cost, tier one assets, and consistent with our view of the economic outlook. We are mindful of short-term uncertainties, and remain fully committed to a balanced approach to investment, while maintaining a single A credit rating and a progressive dividend policy."

Sam Walsh, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, said, "We continue to see positive prospects for medium- to long-term iron ore demand driven by ongoing growth in Chinese consumption. We continue to forecast that annual Chinese steel production will grow from its current level of around 700 million tonnes to around one billion tonnes a year out towards 2030. This demand growth is coupled with an increasingly challenged supply response, as several high-profile competitor projects have recently been either delayed or postponed.

"Our Pilbara expansion is already well underway, positioning us to capture the opportunities of this market environment. And we have the natural advantages of a readily-expandable Rio Tinto-operated port and proximity to the Chinese market.

"The investment we and our partners are making in Simandou takes us a step further towards the phased development and ramp up of a new world-class iron ore resource. Further investment will be made as the Government of Guinea progresses its financing strategy and grants approvals for the next steps in developing rail and port infrastructure. The experience gained in expanding our Pilbara operations will be invaluable as we develop Simandou."

Please click here to read the full press release by Rio Tinto.

2011-12 British Business Climate Survey in China - Summary

 

[Images courtesy of www.cbbc.org and www.britishchamber.cn]

The CBI would like to thank our partners at the CBBC and British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing for sharing the findings of the 2011-12 British Business Climate Survey in China.

The results of the 2012 Business Climate Survey indicate increasing optimism about the outlook for revenue growth in 2012. The survey clearly demonstrates the growing importance of China to many companies as a driver of corporate growth, evidenced by plans to increase investments in China this year.

However, companies continue to acknowledge the complexity of the operating environment, especially in terms of rising labour costs, increasing local competition and the ongoing challenges of IPR & legal enforcement, protectionism and bureaucracy.

 Despite this, most UK companies remain confident about the outlook for their business in China.

 The key messages that arise from this survey are the following:

 

• Despite worries over the global economic outlook and rising domestic competition, performance in 2011 was generally positive with the majority of respondents seeing an increase in revenue.

 

• China remains a key market, with the majority of respondents planning an increase in investment and remaining positive in their expectations for the coming year.

 

• Human resource issues continue to be a substantial challenge for business, with members tackling increasing labour costs and problems attracting and retaining skilled staff.

 

• Whilst domestic competition still struggles to compete in terms of technical innovation and management expertise, they showed significant improvement in marketing and branding.

 

• The key business challenges facing those in the China market continue to be bureaucracy, securing licences and protecting intellectual property.

 

• Despite intellectual property rights being cited as an important factor in China operations, the number of infringements that actually harmed operations was relatively low.

 

To download the full survey please click below:

Download 2012_china_business_climate_survey