Today, the mining giant Rio Tinto reaffirmed that it was in the process of reviewing the potential impact of the Rudd Government's planned super tax on resources on its ongoing Australian projects and new operations.

Sam Walsh, the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive, had yesterday taken the wraps off the fact that the company's plans to increase the Pilbara iron ore production capacity from the current 230 million tons per year to 330 million tons by the time 2015 rolls in has now been put on hold because of the newly proposed tax.

"We've got our projects on hold while we try to understand the ramifications of a 40 per cent increase in taxes", he said.

When asked about what projects of the company have been affected by the planned tax, Mr. Walsh said that he currently has a "range of projects, in the iron ore operations".

Mr. Walsh shared that as much as $7.5 Billion worth of projects in Australia have been affected and been put "on hold" across Rio's iron ore, alumina and coal units.