Aluminium smelter, a legacy of "Think Big", to be sold as part of major restructure of Australian resource giant.

Meridian Energy and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) – 79% owned by Rio Tinto - have shaken hands on a power bill dispute reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars.

NZAS has a low cost ‘take or pay' supply contract with Meridian for its Tiwai Point smelter. A transformer failure caused an outage in November 2008 that cut production – and power use – from the smelter for several months.

South Port may have recorded its highest annual profit with a result of $4.12 million for 2009, but it still needs to nail down a three-decade long licensing agreement with the operators of the Tiwai Point smelter which could have a bearing on the next year’s bottom line.

The port company, which has now been operating for 21 years, said the profit for the year ending June included more than $800,00 in one-off gains, with a normalised net profit of $3.3 million, up from $2.51 million last year.

It’s not the global demand (or lack of it) that is behind Rio Tinto’s decision to ramp up the production capacity at its Tiawi Point aluminium smelter, it’s the power the plant needs to use.

Last week, Rio Tinto confirmed that the Southland smelter, in which it has a 79% stake and is operated by New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS), would be restored to 89% capacity after months of reduced production due to a transmission failure.

Rio Tinto has confirmed the worst-kept secret in the mining industry with the announcement of its $19.5 billion deal with Chinalco.

The partnership with Chinalco will represent China's single largest corporate investment abroad.

The Rio Tinto board are unanimously recommending to shareholders that the deal goes ahead, with the investors’ approval still needed, along with clearance from Australian competition authorities.

Rio Tinto is reportedly set to ink a deal that will see it benefit from China's single largest corporate investment abroad.

The $US19 billion dollar deal between Chinalco and the owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has been given the green light, according to a Financial Times article.

Chinalco will buy $7.2bn in convertible bonds as part of the deal, which will convert into Rio shares at a later date.