China's latest spying allegations against global miner Rio Tinto Ltd were nothing new, a spokeswoman for Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said on Monday, adding Australia wanted China to deal with the case expeditiously.

China's state secrets agency said on its Web site on Saturday that Rio Tinto had spied on steel mills for six years which led to them overpaying $102 billion for iron ore, Rio Tinto's biggest earner.

(Reporting by James Grubel)