	foote mineral to merge into rio tinto foote mineral co said it signed a letter of intent to merge into rio tinto zinc corp plc for cash foote pct owned by newmont mining corp said newmont has informally indicated it would vote in favor of the rio tinto proposal foote said terms of the agreement including price for the proposed cash transaction have not been released because they are subject to a continuing due diligence investigation the company said a definitive merger agreement is expected to be negotiated within six weeks and shareholders are expected to vote on the deal at a meeting expected to be held in june or july reuter 
