Rio Tinto is suing its Australian contractor Monadelphous, for $493mn after the miner incurred losses from ceasing its iron ore operations due to a fire at a mine maintained by the latter.
The legal battle with the Australian contractor who runs Rio’s iron ore facility includes claims for losses worth $458mn from the iron ore mine’s closure and a cost of $35mn to rebuild the miner’s sinter plant, which was destroyed in the fire.
According to media reports, Rio incurred these losses from a dip in iron ore production caused by the fire at its Cape Lambert port in Western Australia in 2019. The mining giant claims that Monadelphous breached the contract in conducting maintenance shutdowns leading to the fire. The latter intends to use a $150mn insurance claim to indemnify itself.