Australia's Rio Tinto put on trading halt

WELLINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) was placed on trading halt on Friday at its own request, the New Zealand stock exchange said.

The halt was put in place pending a material announcement.

Shares in the company closed on Thursday in Australia at A$66.90.

Rio said on Thursday it was looking at new ways to deal with its huge debt burden, reported by some media as a rights issue, in response to reports that its planned $19.5 billion stake sale to China's Chinalco has collapsed.