§ 40. Miss Wilkinsonasked the Minister of Economic Warfare whether he has any information whether the Rio Tinto Company is at liberty to dispose freely of its copper ore output, or whether it has to sell its output to Spanish buying organisations; and if the latter is the case, whether he has any definite information about the ultimate destination of the copper ore?
§ Mr. CrossI am informed that the Rio Tinto Company is not obliged to sell copper ore to any Spanish buying organisation, and is not in fact doing so. All exports from Spain are subject to export licences being granted by the Spanish Government, and I understand that that Government are at present discouraging the export of copper ore. According to my information no copper ore is being exported from Spain, and the ore produced by the Rio Tinto Company is being used for ordinary industrial purposes in that country.