Less than a month after announcing him as the Chairman-designate, Rio Tinto has said Jim Leng, deputy chairman, Tata Steel will not be joining the mining major.
"Jim Leng, non-executive director, has resigned from the boards with immediate effect and will, therefore, not take up the post of chairman of the boards in April as previously planned," the mining major said in a statement on Sunday.
On January 14, Rio Tinto said Leng would be appointed as the company's chairman from April this year. He joined the firm as non-executive director on the same day.
Leng is the deputy chairman of Tata Steel in India, ever since Corus was acquired by Tata Steel in 2007. He is also chairman of Tata Steel Europe and has been in that post since 2003.
The Financial Times has reported that Leng's decision came after a split with Rio Tinto's Chief Executive Tom Albanese, over how to tackle the firm's problems.
"It is understood that Leng disagreed with Albanese over a potential cash injection from Chinalco, the Chinese state- owned aluminium producer and Rio's largest shareholder," the report said.
