BEIJING - Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co, a joint venture between Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) and Australia's Rio Tinto, has obtained business registration for mineral exploration in China, according to Rio Tinto's Beijing office.

The joint venture will initially focus on exploring copper and then coal and potash, Rio Tinto said in a statement released on Friday.

The statement did not provide the timetable for the company to start exploration and it did not mention any specific project.

Chinalco, China's top producer of aluminum, has a controlling 51 percent stake in the venture and Rio Tinto, one of the world's three largest iron ore suppliers, holds the rest.