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BHP deal with Rio faces defeat
Global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto expect their $116bn iron ore joint venture will fail to gain regulatory approval. Mining executives involved in the process said yesterday that competition regulators in various jurisdictions had rejected the two miners’ arguments that the venture would not have price-setting power. “It’s dead and the coffin’s being lowered into the ground. It’s a matter of finding a face-saving way out in the coming months,” said one senior mining executive to the Sydney Morning Herald.