Brussels, 21/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Commission opened formal investigation procedure into the restructuring aid for the Spanish company Minas de Rio Tinto SAL (MRT), located in Huelva and who activities are mainly the extraction of copper, silver and gold. It doubts the compatibility of the aid with the conditions foreseen in the guidelines for the safeguard and restructuring aid for companies in difficulty. In February 2000, the Commission had approved a safeguard aid in the form of a guarantee given by the Junta of Andalousia for loans of ESP 1.5 billion in favour of MRT. One year later, Spain notified an aid that it intended to allocate to MRT for restructuring in the shape of a ESP 1 billion loan, while informing the Commission that the guarantee by the Junta of Andalousia would remain in place until the end of 2003. According to the restructuring plan envisaged for MRT, the viability of the company is exclusively based upon the hypothesis of a substantial increase in the price of copper during the 2000-2005 period, hypothesis that remains unproven, further burying the company in financial difficulties. Given the volatility of the metals market, the Commission doubts that the plan is realistic and that its implementation succeeds in restoring the long-term profitability of MRT, within a reasonable time frame. Furthermore, the Spanish company makes no contribution to the restructuring plan, as required by the guidelines. Under these conditions, the Commission decided to open a formal investigation procedure and invites the Spanish authorities to present their comments.