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Rio Tinto Group

Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian mining group with its headquarters in London, and a management office in Melbourne. Founded in 1873, the group has grown to become one of the world’s leading producers of a range of commodities, including aluminium, iron ore, copper, uranium, coal, and diamonds. The company has operations on six continents but is mainly concentrated in Australia and Canada, and owns gross assets valued at US$81 billion.

Chairman / President

Dominic Barton

CEO / Managing Director

Jakob Stausholm

CFO / Finance Director

Peter Cunningham

Industry

Metals and Mining

Website

riotinto.com

Headquarters address

6 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4AD, United Kingdom

Stock Code

ASX:RIO
LSE:RIO
NYSE:RIO

Year founded

1873

last updated:

30 September, 2024

A bustling waterway in Bougainville’s capital Buka pictured in 2019. Photo: AFP

Pacific nations

Rebel region vows to become Pacific’s newest nation by 2027

Bougainville, home to about 300,000 people, voted to secede from Papua New Guinea five years ago after a bloody decade-long war.

11 Dec 2024 - 2:33PM

China-Australia relations

Exclusive | Premier Li’s Perth trip reflects commitment to warmer China-Australia ties

31 May 2024 - 3:50PMvideocam

Australia

Australia’s Rio Tinto sees China driving iron ore demand; copper orders rise

16 Jan 2024 - 8:56PM

High Jewellery

Could this be a good time to invest in fancy pink, blue or yellow diamonds?

Fancy coloured diamonds in distinctive shapes are capturing increased interest, with yellow diamonds featuring prominently at Haute Couture Week, and Rio Tinto announcing a new Beyond Rare tender

16 Jan 2024 - 10:29AM

A good time to invest in pink, blue or yellow diamonds? Fancy coloured stones will never go out of style, with distinctive shapes capturing increased interest. Photos: Handout

China trade

Can Rio Tinto’s Africa mine cut China’s iron ore reliance on Australia, Brazil?

China’s political fallout with Australia in 2020 prompted an expedited effort by China to seek other sources of iron ore, like the Simandou mine in Guinea.

7 Dec 2023 - 8:30PMvideocam

Business of climate change

Rio Tinto, China Baowu to jointly explore green steel projects

The MoU between Rio Tinto and China Baowu will explore several initiatives including setting up green steel facilities in China and Western Australia.

12 Jun 2023 - 4:15PMvideocam

Mongolia

Exclusive | ‘We’re open and ready’: Mongolia prime minister courts global investors

Sandwiched between superpowers, Mongolia is in a precarious geopolitical position, and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene says Russia and China ‘totally understand and highly appreciate’ this.

24 Jan 2024 - 2:11PM

Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene attends the opening ceremony for an underground copper mine alongside Rio Tinto CEO Jacob Stausholm in Khanbogd, South Gobi, on March 13. Photo: Reuters

Climate change

Macroscope | Is green hydrogen China’s answer to steel mill carbon emissions?

Major steelmakers are adopting green hydrogen, setting up expensive experiments and pilot facilities. But to scale up its production and use, government support will be crucial.

26 Feb 2023 - 10:00PMvideocam

Australia

‘Needle in the haystack’: tiny radioactive device located in Australia

Specialist search equipment picked up radiation emitting from the widget, which went missing last month, apparently while being moved from a Rio Tinto iron ore mine.

1 Feb 2023 - 10:13PM

Australia

Emergency services scour Australian outback for lost radioactive capsule

The capsule emits the equivalent of 10 X-rays an hour and can cause skin damage, burns and radiation sickness. Long-term exposure could also cause cancer – but experts say the lost item cannot be weaponised.

30 Jan 2023 - 9:34AM

Crews search for a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule from a Rio Tinto mine after it disappeared while being transported across the Australian outback. Photo: Western Australia Department Of Fire And Emergency Services / Handout

China-Australia relations

‘Not enough’: Australia’s US exports can’t cover trade loss with China

With Australia’s reduced trade with China, exports to the US have increased, but the US$1billion a month of trade isn’t enough to offset the loss.

9 Apr 2022 - 9:18AMvideocam

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Australian exports to the US including wine, barley, beef, coal have increased, but not enough to offset the drop in trade with China. Photo: Shutterstock

Africa

Guinea signs US$15 billion deal for Simandou iron ore site

The three-way deal has a 35-year duration for co-development by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and the Singapore-led Winning Consortium.

28 Mar 2022 - 7:05AM

Africa

Could Guinea’s junta sink China’s plans to wean itself off Australian iron ore?

Work is on hold at the China-backed Simandou mine, home to one of the biggest undeveloped reserves in the world.

19 Mar 2022 - 6:00PM

Commodities

China unveils plan for mineral ‘self-sufficiency’ as supply risks multiply

In the 2021-25 raw material development plan, China says iron self-sufficiency will be ‘significantly’ increased and its rare earth quota mechanism streamlined to adjust production.

31 Dec 2021 - 5:17AMvideocam

Beijing wants to safeguard supply of key strategic resources, including iron ore. Photo: Reuters

Commodities

China’s war on runaway commodity prices fuels retreat in iron ore

Iron ore prices have plummeted since May, reflecting recent efforts by Beijing to rein in demand for steel and turn back high raw material prices that have hit Chinese producers.

22 Sep 2021 - 6:11AMvideocam

Beijing has tried to rein in prices for raw materials, including iron ore, that have hurt small Chinese manufacturers this year. Photo: AFP

China economy

Surging iron ore prices rattle China as tensions with Australia flare

Amid heightened trade tensions with Australia, Beijing may look to cut steel demand to stabilise prices and reduce potential economic risks, experts say.

7 May 2021 - 10:22AMvideocam

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Commodities

China steel demand leaves top iron ore miners struggling to keep up

Steel prices in China finished the quarter at decade highs as construction activity and demand in the first quarter exceeded both 2020 and 2019.

21 Apr 2021 - 11:25AMvideocam

Australian Economy

Australia’s iron ore exports set to hit record US$104 billion

Australia’s iron ore exports are expected to earn more than A$100 billion (US$76 billion) per year for the next half decade as miners like BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue dig out more iron ore from Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

29 Mar 2021 - 12:51PMvideocam

Iron ore shipments are expected to rise from 900 million tonnes in 2020–21 to 1.1 billion tonnes by 2025–26, as the country expects to retain its dominant market share even as Brazilian supply recovers. Photo: Bloomberg

China economy

Miner BHP makes another anti-pollution deal with Chinese steel producer

Newly signed memorandum of understanding between Chinese steel mill and Australian miner will see US$15 million spent over three years on research to reduce harmful carbon emissions.

9 Mar 2021 - 7:15PMvideocam

China economy

China’s state-owned giants to be ‘national team’ underpinning growth

China Baowu Steel Group became the world’s largest steelmaker last week, highlighting Beijing’s goal of creating a ‘national team’ of globally competitive state-owned enterprises.

29 Dec 2020 - 10:58PMvideocam

China-Australia relations

Iron ore prices drop after Dalian Commodity Exchange tightens trading rules

With Chinese demand for iron ore increasing amid the nation’s economic recovery, market punters had been looking to capitalise as prices were driven up in recent months by a number of underlying factors.

24 Dec 2020 - 3:36PMvideocam

A worker operates a steel plant furnace of the Dalian Special Steel Company in Liaoning province. Photo: Reuters

China-Australia relations

High iron ore prices due to fall as Chinese demand eases

Chinese government-backed consultancy projects a slowdown in China’s steel production next year, but market analysts say aggressive speculation through iron ore derivative trading could keep prices inflated.

23 Dec 2020 - 10:52AMvideocam

China imported 1.04 billion tonnes of iron ore in 2019, with 660 million tonnes coming from Australia, mainly via Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue Metals Group. Photo: Bloomberg

China-Australia relations

Rio Tinto takes ‘important step’ with Chinese partners to curb pollution

Anglo-Australian miner’s US$10 million research investment is an extension of last year’s agreement between Rio Tinto, China Baowu and Tsinghua University to reduce carbon emissions in the steel supply chain.

18 Dec 2020 - 6:05AMvideocam

China-Australia relations

China steel industry questions Rio Tinto over ‘unreasonable’ iron ore prices

China Iron & Steel Association is looking into whether miners have deliberately restricted supplies to send prices soaring, but commodities analysts say other factors have contributed to high prices.

17 Dec 2020 - 5:36AM

China-Australia relations

Australian miners not to blame for China’s soaring iron ore prices, observers say

China Iron & Steel Association says ‘market pricing mechanism has failed’ after commodity price hits record US$158 per tonne on Thursday.

14 Dec 2020 - 10:05AMvideocam

China imports about 60 per cent of its iron ore from Australia. Photo: AFP

China-Australia relations

China steel group demands answers from BHP over soaring iron ore prices

The China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) says it had a ‘candid exchange of views’ with BHP on soaring iron ore prices, as domestic crude steel production is on track for a record year.

14 Dec 2020 - 9:40AMvideocam

A spike in imported iron ore prices threatens the profitability of steel plants in China, which buy nearly 90 per cent of their supply from overseas. Photo: AFP

China-Australia relations

China iron ore demand continues, Australian miner secures US$4 billion in deals

Australian-listed miner Fortescue Metals Group signed 12 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) at the China International Import Expo (CIIE).

11 Nov 2020 - 3:52PM

China economy

China’s Sinosteel increases iron ore stake in Australia after merger

Sinosteel’s purchase of half the future output of new Fenix Resources mine comes amid controversy over China halting imports of Australian coal, and officials down under have sought clarification from Beijing.

15 Oct 2020 - 5:09AMvideocam

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