Australia's major mining company Rio Tinto has urged the Australian government to approve its deal with China's major aluminium producer Chinalco to save thousands of jobs in Australia.

The Australian newspaper reported on Wednesday that Rio had told the Rudd government if the deal which Chinalco failed, it could cost at least 2,150 jobs in Queensland, the hometown of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Rio's US$19.5 billion deal with Chinalco, which was struck last week, requires approval from Australian shareholders, the government and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The cash investment would allow Rio to continue to expand its projects, strengthen the company's balance sheet and reduce debt. More importantly, the approval will preserve thousands of jobs in the country.

According to The Australian, the contractor and employee cuts would add to Rio's 14,000 targeted global job cuts, meaning as many as 5,000 could be cut from its Australian workforce if the deal fell through.

Last week, Rio said it had reached half its targeted global cuts but refused to say how many had been cut from Australia and how many had been planned.

So far, Rio has announced 660 job cuts at mines in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, and is understood to have cut about 200 more computer contractors nationwide.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)