Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Our business
We operate in 35 countries where our 60,000 employees are working to find better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Our purpose in action
Continuous improvement and innovation are part of our DNA
Innovation
The need for innovation is greater than ever
We supply the metals and minerals used to help the world grow and decarbonise
Iron Ore
The primary raw material used to make steel, which is strong, long-lasting and cost-efficient
Lithium
The lightest of all metals, it is a key element needed for low-carbon technologies
Copper
Tough but malleable, corrosion-resistant and recyclable, and an excellent conductor of heat and transmitter of electricity
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Oyu Tolgoi
One of the most modern, safe and sustainable operations in the world
Rincon Project
A long-life, low-cost and low-carbon lithium source
Simandou Project
The world’s largest untapped high-grade iron ore deposit
Providing materials the world needs in a responsible way
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Nature solutions
Our nature-based solutions projects complement the work we're doing to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
Enabling ESG transparency
Our START™ initiative tracks traceability and responsible production of Rio Tinto materials.
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Reports 2024
Download our 2024 suite of reports, including our 2024 Taxes and Royalties Paid Report, detailing $8.4 billion of taxes and royalties paid globally during the year
Get the latest news, stories and updates
Things You Can't Live Without
Our podcast discussing what needs to happen to create a sustainable future for the everyday items we have come to rely on
Refuelling the mining industry
How can we power the world’s biggest machines with new fuel solutions?
Forging a low-carbon future
How we're working to decarbonise iron ore and steel
Discover more about life at Rio Tinto
Graduates and students
If you want to drive real change, we have just the place to do it
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Supporting new parents of any gender with equal access to parental leave
Available jobs
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Lightweight and infinitely recyclable, aluminium is found in everything from jet engines to electric vehicles to mobile phones. It is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, and one of the world’s fastest growing major metals.
But we are only scratching the surface of the opportunities for aluminium to be a part of our everyday lives. For example, analysts predict the use of aluminium in lightweight cars and trucks in North America will increase by 40%, from 180 kilograms per vehicle in 2015 to 252 kilograms in 2030. For every 10% reduction in the weight of a vehicle, fuel economy increases by about 7%. Over its lifetime, every kilogram of aluminium that replaces heavier materials in a car or light truck can save a net 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions.
Aluminium is made from bauxite, or aluminium ore. Bauxite is the basic raw material that is refined into alumina, which in turn is sent to smelters for processing into aluminium.
First discovered near Les Beaux in the South of France in 1821, bauxite was initially called “beauxite”. In 1886, Charles Martin Hall and Paul Héroult independently developed a process for making aluminium from alumina. And in 1887, Austrian scientist Karl Josef Bayer patented his self-titled process for extracting alumina from bauxite. Today, the Bayer process and the Hall-Héroult process are still combined to process bauxite ore into alumina, and then convert it into aluminium.
We are a global leader in aluminium, with a large-scale, vertically-integrated business: bauxite mines and alumina refineries as well as smelters producing aluminium certified as responsible, to now being able to offer fully recycled aluminium products through our Matalco joint venture. Managing the process from start to finish allows us to bring quality products to our customers reliably and efficiently: from high-grade bauxite for the global seaborne trade to sustainably sourced aluminium for beverage packaging to new, lighter alloys for the automotive industry. Our Canadian operations average in the first decile of the industry cost-curve and produce aluminium using clean, renewable hydropower.
We produce some of the highest quality, lowest-carbon footprint aluminium in the world: the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of our managed Atlantic Operations smelters represents less than one-fifth of the industry average. Through ELYSIS, our joint venture with Alcoa, supported by Apple and the governments of Canada and Quebec, we are helping to further develop a breakthrough smelting technology to produce aluminium with no direct greenhouse gas emissions, which is now being used in Apple products.
In 2016, we launched RenewAl™, the world’s first certified low CO2 primary aluminium brand. In 2018, we became the first company to receive certification from the ASI as producing “responsible” aluminium in Canada. Our diverse alloys are designed to meet customer needs. In 2019, we launched Revolution-Al™, a new aluminium alloy developed to make lighter car wheels, which can help to make cars safer and more appealing to end consumers with reduced CO2 emissions.
Rio Tinto becomes official aluminium partner of the Montreal Canadiens
We all want to know more about the products we buy – where they come from and how they are made. So to help our customers meet this demand from consumers, we created START – the first digital sustainability label for the aluminium industry.
START works like a ‘nutrition label’ for several of our products including aluminium – providing transparency and traceability across our supply chain, so end users can see environmental, social and governance information across up to 14 key criteria including carbon footprint, water use and recycled content.
And by showing how our aluminium is made – from mine to market – we are empowering our customers and theirs to make a more sustainable choice.
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) is a global non-profit standards setting and certification organisation whose vision is to maximise the contribution of aluminium to a sustainable society. With over 380 members spanning the aluminium value chain and civil societies, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) collaboratively fosters responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium.
The ASI Performance Standard defines environmental, social and governance principles and criteria, which address a broad range of sustainability issues in the aluminium supply chain. We were the first to achieve certification against the original standard in 2018, and we now have 23 of our aluminium operations certified against version 3 of the standard, demonstrating our continued commitment to responsible aluminium. Our performance standard certifications span our mines, refineries, smelters, casthouses and supplementary support sites within Australia, Canada, Iceland, and New Zealand.
The ASI Chain of Custody standard creates a link from company practices to responsible sourcing of products by connecting certified suppliers and customers and tracking material flow. Our ASI Chain of Custody certification means we can also provide our customers ASI certified material across our bauxite, alumina and aluminium products.
These certifications give our customers independent assurance that the material they use to make aeroplane parts, cars, smartphones and other products has been externally assessed against standards that promote the protection of biodiversity, respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, water management and reduction of carbon emissions.
You can read more about the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative on the ASI website, and view our certifications on our ASI Member page.
In 2018, we launched ELYSIS, a partnership with Alcoa, supported by Apple and the governments of Canada and Québec. ELYSIS is further developing breakthrough technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the aluminium smelting process, replacing them with pure, clean oxygen. In Canada alone, if this technology were to be used at every smelter in the country, it could eliminate the equivalent of 6.5 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – roughly equivalent to taking nearly 1.8 million cars off the road.
ELYSIS will work towards bringing this technology to the market at its Research and Development Centre, located within Rio Tinto’s Complexe Jonquière. ELYSIS has selected our Alma smelter in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, for the first installation and demonstration of its inert anode technology at a commercial size of 450 kiloamperes (kA).
In November 2021, ELYSIS successfully produced aluminium without any direct greenhouse gas emissions at its Research and Development Centre using a full industrial design at a size comparable to small smelting cells operating in the industry today.
In March 2022, Apple announced that they would purchase a first batch of commercial-purity aluminium produced at the Research and Development Centre to manufacture their new iPhone SE.
And in a step towards putting a fully traceable beverage can in the hands of consumers, in June 2022 we partnered with Corona Canada to launch of Canada’s first specially-marked, low carbon beverage can, manufactured by Ball Corporation. The cans, now available through a pilot in Ontario, use Rio Tinto aluminium and leverage ELYSIS™ technology. As part of this limited release, the 1.2 million cans produced have a QR code printed on them to inspire consumers to learn more about the cans’ low carbon footprint.
Work is now focused on scaling up ELYSIS™ technology for even larger commercial-size cells, which should become operational in 2023. Construction of these prototype cells is now well underway at the end of an existing potline at Rio Tinto’s Alma smelter.
At nearly the northernmost edge of the Northern Territory sits the first mine in Australia to be 100% owned and operated, across the supply chain, by Traditional Owners – the Gumatj, one of the Yolngu clans in the area.
Located at Gulkula, in Northeast Arnhem Land, the mine provides employment opportunities for Traditional Owners. Among these are new graduates from the Gulkula Mine Training Centre, partly funded with A$2.4 million from Rio Tinto, that gives on-the-job training and support to the Yolngu people to help them build mining careers in the Northern Territory and beyond.
We have worked closely with Traditional Owners from the start, and we are committed to the success of this mine – both as a customer and a partner.
We buy bauxite from the mine to sell to international customers, and celebrated the mine’s first bauxite shipment in 2018.
While aluminium is essential for low-carbon solutions, including lightweight cars and energy efficient buildings, it takes a lot of energy to produce.
As Queensland’s largest energy user, we have an important role to play in driving the development of renewable energy sources to power our Queensland-based Aluminium operations and supporting the state’s renewable energy targets.
In 2022, we called for proposals to develop large-scale wind, solar and firming energy generating systems that can progressively start supplying power to the Boyne smelter (BSL), the Yarwun alumina refinery and the Queensland Alumina refinery (QAL).
Since then, we have announced power purchase agreements with Australia’s largest solar power project — near Gladstone and with Windlab’s Bungaban wind energy project, as well as the signing of 2 solar and battery hybrid services agreements (HSAs) with Edify Energy.
Transitioning Queensland’s energy source on this scale is a multi-year and multi-stakeholder undertaking and is aligned with the Statement of Cooperation we signed with the Queensland Government in October 2021 to work towards establishing more renewable energy in Central Queensland.
Rio Tinto will continue to engage with potential partners to assess other proposals to help competitively meet the energy needs of its 3 production assets in the Gladstone region.
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E: salesinfo@riotinto.com