Rio Tinto Canada has announced an investment worth C$25.6 million (US$21 million) in Canadian miner Western Copper and Gold Corporation. The capital injection is to allow the Vancouver-based business to advance its Casino copper-gold project in the Yukon.
“We are pleased to welcome Rio Tinto as a strategic investor in the Company,” said Paul West-Sells, the president and chief executive, as quoted in a statement. “The investment by Rio Tinto, a leading global mining group which operates in 35 countries around the world, and whose purpose is to produce the materials essential to human progress is a strong endorsement of the Casino project.”
Western Copper and Gold Corporation remains the sole owner of the Casino project and will continue to serve as its operator, according to the statement.