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Oleg Deripaska, chief executive officer of United Co. Rusal Bloomberg | Getty Images An amendment by the U.S. Treasury to its Russian sanctions program may greatly reduce the restrictions on

aluminium giant Rusal, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean Sebastien Jacques said on Wednesday. Washington last month imposed sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and several

companies in which he is a large shareholder, including En+ Group and aluminium giant United Company Rusal, in response to what the United States called Russia's "malign

activities." Late on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury gave investors an additional month to divest or transfer their holdings in sanctions targets, including Rusal and En+. "We are still

digesting (the announcement) ... which means that potentially the restriction on Rusal may have been reduced in a dramatic way," Jacques said in Melbourne after the miner's annual

general meeting. "We are reviewing the situation, but today we can see a way forward. We'll come back to the market as and when the situation is clear," he told a media

briefing. The United States has said previously it would consider lifting sanctions if Deripaska, who holds a 48 percent stake in Rusal through his 65 percent holding in En+, ceded control

of the company. Deripaska agreed last week to cut his shareholdings in En+ to less than 50 percent and resign from the board. Under the latest U.S. Treasury amendment, the deadline to divest

financial holdings in sanctions targets would be extended to June 6 from May 7. The sanctions have upended the global aluminium industry. Rio Tinto, which buys from and sells to Rusal and

jointly owns an alumina refinery in Australia, said last month it would declare force majeure on some contracts, a legal term that allows a firm not to deliver on contacts due to

circumstances outside its control. "It does just underline the unintended consequences of trade sanctions," Rio Tinto Chairman Simon Thompson said at the briefing. "This was

directed at Oleg Deripaska ... In fact, it has had major repercussions across the whole market because the aluminium industry is integrated by international trade."