(Reuters) -- Rio Tinto Ltd said on Wednesday it would team up with its biggest customer China Baowu Steel Group to develop an iron ore project in Western Australia for $2 billion as it looks to prop up its production from the Pilbara region.
The deal comes amid fraught ties between Australia and China -- the world's top exporter and buyer of iron ore, respectively -- with a recent push by Beijing to centralize purchases of iron ore stoking worries of a hit to mining giants such as Rio, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals.
