Claims in a Chinese report that Rio Tinto has spied on and overcharged Chinese steel mills for years have been dismissed by both the Australian and Chinese governments.

The article, which claimed that the Anglo-American mining giant had overcharged Chinese mills by $102 billion for iron ore was today removed from an official website in a sign that Beijing was displeased with its allegations.

Australia's Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, brushed off the accusations made in the report, describing them as "the opinion of an individual," and irrelevant to the detention of Australian Rio Tinto executive, Stern Hu, and his three Chinese colleagues.

"It is now quite clear, given that the article has been taken off the website, that it was essentially the opinion of the individual writer, and not if you like officially sanctioned," Mr Smith said today.

The Communist Party's main newspaper, The People's Daily, and the government's English-language paper, The China Daily, also cast doubt on the report by Jiang Ruqin, a former mid-ranking official,, with both reporting: "He did not elaborate on any evidence to support his claims."