Rio Tinto has predicted seven years of growth as it announced new additions to its global resources base today.
The company says its Simandou project in Guinea has resources of 2.25 billion tonnes of iron ore.
Rio also announced it has completed sufficient drilling on its deep porphyry copper deposit in Arizona containing 1.34 billion tonnes with 1.5 percent copper and 0.040 percent molybdenum.
According to Rio Tinto Copper Group Chief Executive Bret Clayton, pre-feasibility for the project is "on target" for 2012 with production due to commence in 2020.
Other new estimates for potential growth projects include the La Granja project in Peru, where Rio says it has identified 2.77 billion tonnes of inferred copper resources at 0.51 percent copper and 0.1 percent zinc.
Rio has predicted growth of 8.6 percent through to 2015.
By Ozge Ibrahim
