Paul Skinner, the chairman of Rio Tinto, announced today that he would retire from the mining giant, sparking fresh speculation the he will soon take over from Peter Sutherland, of BP.

Mr Skinner will be replaced by Jim Leng, the chairman of Tata Steel Europe Limited and deputy chairman of Tata Steel, of India, which used to be known as Corus Group until the Indian conglomerate acquired the steelmaker in 2007.

Mr Skinner, who is also a former executive at Shell, will step down on April 10 at Rio Tinto's annual meeting, after which he is widely expected to replace Mr Sutherland as the chairman of BP.

The Rio Tinto chairman leaves the group with $37 billion (£25.5 billion) of net debt and facing falling profit margins after a slump in commodity prices.

Its debt soared after the acquisition of Alcan, the Canadian aluminium producer, in 2007, a deal that was spearheaded by Mr Skinner and Tom Albanese, the Rio Tinto chief executive.

Rio Tinto recently fought off a $66 billion hostile bid by BHP Billiton, a rival, and Mr Skinner said today: "After the termination of the BHP Billiton pre-conditional offers for the group, and the identification of a well-qualified successor, now is a good time for me to announce my decision to stand down at the AGMs this year."

Mr Leng said: "I am absolutely delighted to be joining Rio Tinto and taking up the chairmanship. Rio Tinto has a superb set of assets and strong prospects.

"I look forward to working closely with chief executive, Tom Albanese, and his team as we steer the company through the challenges of the current economic climate and beyond."

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