Rio Tinto appoints new CEO

International mining group Rio Tinto has selected Sam Walsh as its new CEO, after letting Tom Albanese go earlier this month over disappointing losses posted by the Anglo-Australian giant. Last April, as reported by Pebble Watch, Albanese had told Rio Tinto shareholders that he opposed developing Pebble as an open-pit mine. Walsh is not on record with an opinion about the design of the proposed Pebble mine.

Albanese is a graduate of University of Fairbanks whose experience includes serving as general manager of the Greens Creek mine near Juneau in the 1990s.

Rio Tinto owns a 19.6 percent share of Northern Dynasty Minerals, a 50 percent member of the Pebble  Limited Partnership, which seeks to develop the Pebble prospect.