Ivan Vella, the Chief Executive of Aluminium at Rio Tinto is on a visit to New Zealand.

He did an interview with BusinessDesk and said that Rio Tinto's aluminium smelters had marginal commercial viability and were unlikely to generate revenue in their own right, but they were still useful as part of Rio Tinto's presence in the aluminium industry.

 BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie says that aluminium doesn't make much money in its own right, but it's better for the company to make a constant supply of products.

LISTEN ABOVE

• Rio Tinto commits to cleanup hazardous material throughout Southland
• Rio Tinto says it wants to delay closure of Tiwai Point Smelter
• Tiwai Point closure: What it could do to power prices