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Australian govt. expected to stand by royalties agreement - Rio Tinto

The transnational miner said it expects the government to stand by an agreement on royalties under its proposed new mining tax.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - 

Rio Tinto , the world's no.2 iron ore miner, expects Australia's government to stand by an agreement on royalties under a new mining tax, its iron ore chief said on Thursday.

"We are expecting that the government will hold up its promise on that," Sam Walsh told a business lunch, referring to an agreement between top miners and the government that all state and territory royalties would be creditable under the new mining tax. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Ed Davies)

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