Tom Albanese’s continued role as Rio Tinto’s chief executive looked increasingly vulnerable as UK shareholders widely applauded the decision of the miner’s board, and its chairman Jan du Plessis, to tap them for cash and abandon the controversial deal with Chinalco, the Chinese state-owned aluminium company.

One top investor pointed to the rise in Rio’s shares as a vindication of the move. “It is not often that a company announces a $15bn rights issue and the shares rise 11 per cent,” he said.