News of Rio Tinto's sale of 13 aluminium assets boosted the company's stocks by 2.74 per cent on Monday. With the increase, Rio Tinto's shares rose to $70.16 which is a month high.

The sale of the 13 Rio Alcan assets is the result of a strategic review which recommended a restructuring of the company's operations. With the move, the Rio Tinto Alcan expects to grow the value of its tier one assets and improve the group's financial performance.

"The strength of our balance sheet means that we can choose the most opportune method and timing to divest these assets, which may not occur until the economic climate improves," Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese said in a statement.

The restructuring will result in control of Rio's stakes in six Australian and New Zealand assets to be transferred to a new business unit named Pacific Aluminium. It will be managed separately from the Rio Tinto Alcan product group until the assets as sold.

The new unit, which will have Sandeep Biswas as chief executive, will oversee Rio Alcan's Gove bauxite mine and alumina refinery, the Boyne Smelters and Gladstone Power Station, and the Tomago and Bell Bay smelters. It will also have supervision over all of the group's aluminium smelters in New Zealand.

Seven non-core assets such as plants, refineries and smelters in France, Germany, Britain and the U.S. will still be managed by Rio Tinto Alcan until a potential interest in the operations are found.

"We have already made good progress, with plans in place to generate sustainable performance improvement, and we are investing at a number of our core assets," Mr Albanese added.

According to Rio's September quarter production report, the company's bauxite production grew 7 per cent, while aluminium rose 2 per cent but alumina declined 5 per cent.

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