Miner Rio Tinto backed out of a $19.5 billion deal today with China's Chinalco according to an associated press report [1].

Tinto is going to take the money and use it to increase its stake in BHP Billiton.

The deal faced serious opposition in Australia where government leaders said they did not want China investing more into one of their country's biggest companies.

Expect more mergers and more deals to come in the gold stock market [2]. With limited resources and huge capital costs it is a natural part of the commodities and metals sector.