RARE ARGYLE PINK DIAMOND SELLS FOR RECORD PRICE

The most expensive diamond ever sold from the Argyle mine

PERTH, 22nd December, 2008 - Rio Tinto's Argyle Pink Diamond business today revealed that it had received the highest price ever for a pink diamond produced from its mine in the east Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The diamond, named "Aphrodite" after the Greek Goddess of Love and Passion, is a spectacular 1.01 carat round, purplish red diamond that will now take its place in history alongside other incomparable fancy coloured diamonds. Raj Kandiah, General Manager of Argyle Pink Diamonds comments, "we were thrilled to achieve such a fantastic result for this "hero stone" which is a great testament to the ongoing rarity, exclusivity and glamour of these very special diamonds".

Mr Kandiah also paid tribute to the "consummate group of master craftsmen at Argyle Pink Diamonds whose job it is to decide how a rough pink diamond extracted from deep within the earth's surface can be cut and polished to reveal its true beauty."

The Aphrodite diamond was part of this year's Argyle Pink Diamond Tender, where the best of a year's production of Argyle pink diamonds are sold. The Pink Tender diamonds were showcased around the world during September and October with intense competition over the last couple of months resulting in this extraordinary result, above the reserve price set for the Aphrodite diamond.

Whilst the company will not release the name of the successful bidder, nor the final price that was paid, it is happy to indicate that the most likely ultimate consumer for Aphrodite will be a high net worth individual who has a passion for rare diamonds.

Commenting on the increasing attraction of pink diamonds, even in the midst of a global financial crisis, Josephine Archer, Sales and Marketing Manager of Argyle Pink Diamonds said, "In spite of the difficult economic outlook, this truly top end of the luxury market continues to defy gravity. In the rarified world of Argyle Pink Diamonds we have seen and continue to see, sustained demand and very strong prices."

This rarity factor has provided the core theme in Argyle Pink Diamonds' new Beyond Rare campaign that was launched in October in Tokyo and Sydney. Supply of pink diamonds from the Argyle mine will be declining as the mine transitions to an underground operation over the next couple of years and eventually closes within the next decade.