Rio Tinto’s Russian partner in a Queensland alumina refinery has rejected the notion that Australian government sanctions should make it a dormant partner in the refinery and signalled it would push to overturn “step in” rights that effectively gave Rio full control of the refinery last week.

Rio owns 80 per cent of Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) and said on Friday that sanctions imposed by the Australian government would enable it to run the refinery without having to consult its 20 per cent partner Rusal.