Pressure was mounting on Tom Albanese as chief executive of Rio Tinto on Friday after the mining group abandoned a controversial $19.5bn fundraising deal with Chinalco in favour of a $15.2bn rights issue and a joint venture with BHP Billiton, its arch rival.

Rio shares jumped 10 per cent on investor relief over the rights issue, the fifth biggest on record, and a deal with BHP that will combine prized iron ore assets in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.