(Adds background)
SYDNEY, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L said on Thursday it had terminated the contracts of Energy & Minerals chief executive Alan Davies and Legal & Regulatory Affairs Group executive Debra Valentine.
The mining company said its board had reviewed the findings to date of an internal investigation into 2011 contractual arrangements with a consultant who provided advisory services on the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
The board concluded that the executives had failed to maintain the standards expected of them under its global code of conduct, though the decision did not pre-judge the course of any external inquiry into the matter, the company said in a statement.
Davies will be replaced by Bold Baatar, who will join the Executive Committee as Energy & Minerals chief executive. Baatar had been serving as the managing director of Marine and vice president of Iron Ore Sales and Marketing.
Chief Financial Officer Chris Lynch has temporarily assumed accountability for the Legal & Regulatory affairs function. Rio said a recruitment process for a new chief legal counsel had begun.
Rio had called a board meeting on Monday to discuss the payments of $10.5 million made to the consultant on the Simandou project, sources said.