BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have abandoned plans to create jointly a marketing company that could have sold as much of 15 per cent of their iron ore production from Western Australia.

It followed criticism from steelmakers that such a move would be a further sign of market concentration. When Rio called off talks with Chinalco over the Chinese group’s proposed $19.5bn (£12bn) investment in June, the Anglo-Australian miner announced that it intended to form a production joint venture with BHP that would pool their Western Australia iron ore assets.