Definitions and exchange rates
NON MINING DEFINITIONS
Throughout this document, the collective expressions Rio Tinto, Rio Tinto Group and Group are used for convenience only. Depending on the context in which they are used, they mean Rio Tinto plc and/or Rio Tinto Limited and/or one or more of the individual companies in which Rio Tinto plc and/or Rio Tinto Limited directly or indirectly own investments, all of which are separate and distinct legal entities.
Unless the context indicates otherwise, the following terms have the meanings shown below:
| Adjusted earnings | An additional measure of earnings reported by Rio Tinto with its UK GAAP results which excludes exceptional items of such magnitude that their exclusion is necessary to reflect the underlying performance of the Group. |
| ADR | American Depositary Receipt evidencing American Depositary Shares (ADS). |
| Australian dollars | Australian currency. Abbreviates to A$. |
| Australian GAAP | Generally accepted accounting principles in Australia. |
| AIFRS | International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted in Australia. |
| Billion | One thousand million. |
| Canadian dollars | Canadian currency. Abbreviates to C$. |
| Company/Companies | Rio Tinto plc and/or Rio Tinto Limited, as the context so requires. |
| DLC merger | Dual listed companies merger (1995). |
| EU IFRS | International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union. |
| IFRS | International Financial Reporting Standards. |
| LBMA | London Bullion Market Association. |
| LME | London Metal Exchange. |
| New Zealand dollars | New Zealand currency. Abbreviates to NZ$. |
| Pounds sterling | UK currency. Abbreviates to £, pence or p. |
| Public shareholders | The holders of Rio Tinto plc shares that are not companies in the Rio Tinto Limited Group and the holders of Rio Tinto Limited shares that are not companies in the Rio Tinto plc Group. |
| Rand | South African currency. Abbreviates to R. |
| Rio Tinto Limited | Rio Tinto Limited, and, where the context permits, its subsidiaries and associated companies. |
| Rio Tinto Limited Group | Rio Tinto Limited and its subsidiaries and associated companies. |
| Rio Tinto Limited shareholders | The holders of Rio Tinto Limited shares. |
| Rio Tinto Limited share | The ordinary shares in Rio Tinto Limited. |
| Rio Tinto Limited/RTL DLC Dividend Share | The DLC Dividend Share in Rio Tinto Limited. |
| Rio Tinto Limited/RTL Special Voting Share | The Special Voting Share in Rio Tinto Limited. |
| Rio Tinto plc | Rio Tinto plc and its subsidiaries and associated companies. |
| Rio Tinto plc ADS | An American Depositary Share representing the right to receive four Rio Tinto plc ordinary shares. |
| Rio Tinto plc Group | Rio Tinto plc and its subsidiaries and associated companies. |
| Rio Tinto plc ordinary shares | The ordinary shares of 10p each in Rio Tinto plc. |
| Rio Tinto plc shareholders | The holders of Rio Tinto plc shares. |
| Rio Tinto plc shares | Rio Tinto plc ordinary shares. |
| Rio Tinto plc/RTP DLC Dividend Share | The DLC Dividend Share of 10p in Rio Tinto plc. |
| Rio Tinto plc/RTP Special Voting Share | The Special Voting Share of 10p in Rio Tinto plc. |
| Share/shares | Rio Tinto Limited shares or Rio Tinto plc ordinary shares, as the context requires. |
| Sharing Agreement | The agreement, dated 21 December 1995, as amended between Rio Tinto Limited and Rio Tinto plc relating to the regulation of the relationship between Rio Tinto Limited and Rio Tinto plc following the DLC merger. |
| UK GAAP | Generally accepted accounting principles in the UK. |
| US dollars | United States currency. Abbreviates to dollars, $ or US$ and US cents or USc. |
| US GAAP | Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. |
MINING AND TECHNICAL DEFINITIONS
| Alumina | Aluminium oxide. It is extracted from bauxite in a chemical refining process and is subsequently the principal raw material in the electro-chemical process by which aluminium is produced. |
| Anode and cathode copper | At the final stage of the smelting of copper concentrates, the copper is cast into specially shaped slabs called anodes for subsequent refining to produce refined cathode copper. |
| Bauxite | Mainly hydrated aluminium oxides (AL2O3.2H2O). Principal ore of alumina, the raw material from which aluminium is made. |
| Beneficiated bauxite | Bauxite ore that has been treated to remove waste material to improve its physical or chemical characteristics. |
| Bioleaching | The deliberate use of bacteria to speed the chemical release of metals from ores. |
| Block caving | An underground bulk mining method. It involves undercutting the orebody to induce ore fracture and collapse by gravity. The broken ore is recovered through draw points below. |
| Borates | A generic term for mineral compounds which contain boron and oxygen. |
| Cathode copper | Refined copper produced by electrolytic refining of impure copper or by electro-winning. |
| Classification | Separating crushed and ground ore into portions of different size particles. |
| Coking coal | By virtue of its carbonisation properties, it is used in the manufacture of coke, which is used in the steel making process. Also known as metallurgical coal. |
| Concentrate | The product of a physical concentration process, such as flotation or gravity concentration, which involves separating ore minerals from unwanted waste rock. Concentrates require subsequent processing (such as smelting or leaching) to break down or dissolve the ore minerals and obtain the desired elements, usually metals. |
| Cutoff grade | The lowest grade of mineralised material considered economic to process. It is used in the calculation of the quantity of ore present in a given deposit. |
| Doré | A precious metal alloy which is produced by smelting. Doré is an intermediate product which is subsequently refined to produce pure gold and silver. |
| DWT | Dead weight tons is the combined weight in long tons (2,240 pounds weight) of cargo, fuel and fresh water that a ship can carry. |
| Flotation | A method of separating finely ground minerals using a froth created in water by specific reagents. In the flotation process certain mineral particles are induced to float by becoming attached to bubbles of froth whereas others, usually unwanted, sink. |
| FOB | Free on board. |
| Grade | The proportion of metal or mineral present in ore, or any other host material, expressed in this document as per cent, grams per tonne or ounces per ton. |
| Head grade | The average grade of ore delivered to the mill. |
| Ilmenite | Mineral composed of iron, titanium and oxygen. |
| Metallurgical coal | By virtue of its carbonisation properties, it is used in the manufacture of coke, which is used in the steel making process. Also known as coking coal. |
| Mineral resource | A concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge. Mineral resources are sub-divided in order of increasing geological confidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories. |
| Ore | A rock from which a metal(s) or mineral(s) can be economically and legally extracted. |
| Ore milled | The quantity of ore processed. |
| Ore hoisted | The quantity of ore which is removed from an underground mine for processing. |
| Ore reserve | The economically mineable part of a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. It includes diluting materials and allowances for losses which may occur when the materials are mined. Appropriate assessments and studies have been carried out, and include consideration of and modification by realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction could reasonably be justified. Ore Reserves are sub-divided in order of increasing confidence into Probable Ore Reserves and Proved Ore Reserves. |
| Pressure oxidation | A method of treating sulphide ores. In the case of refractory gold ores, the object is to oxidise the sulphides to sulphates and hence liberate the gold for subsequent cyanide leaching. The technique involves reaction of the ore with sulphuric acid under pressure in the presence of oxygen gas. |
| Rock mined | The quantity of ore and waste rock excavated from the mine. In this document, the term is only applied to surface mining operations. |
| Rutile | A mineral composed of titanium and oxygen (TiO2). |
| Steam coal | Also referred to as steaming coal, thermal coal or energy coal. It is used as a fuel source in electrical power generation, cement manufacture and various industrial applications. |
| Stripping ratio | The tonnes of waste material which must be removed to allow the mining of one tonne of ore. |
| Solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) | Processes for extracting metal from an ore and producing pure metal. First the metal is leached into solution; the resulting solution is then purified in the solvent extraction process; the solution is then treated in an electro-chemical process (electro-winning) to recover cathode copper. |
| Tailing | The rock wastes which are rejected from a concentrating process after the recoverable valuable minerals have been extracted. |
| Titanium dioxide feedstock | A feedstock rich in titanium dioxide, produced, in Rio Tinto’s case, by smelting ores containing titanium minerals. |
| Zircon | Zirconium mineral (ZrSiO4). |
Conversion of weights and measures
1 troy ounce = 31.1 grams
1 kilogram = 32.15 troy ounces
1 kilogram = 2.2046 pounds
1 metric tonne = 1,000 kilograms
1 metric tonne = 2,204.6 pounds
1 metric tonne = 1.1023 short tons
1 short ton = 2,000 pounds
1 long ton = 2,240 pounds
1 gram per metric tonne = 0.02917 troy ounces per short ton
1 gram per metric tonne = 0.03215 troy ounces per metric tonne
1 kilometre = 0.6214 miles
Exchange rates
The following tables show, for the periods and dates indicated, certain information regarding the exchange rates for the pound sterling and Australian dollar, based on the Noon Buying Rates for pounds sterling and Australian dollars expressed in US dollars per £1.00 and per A$1.00.
| Year ended 31 December* | Period end |
Average rate |
High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1.99 | 2.00 | 2.11 | 1.92 |
| 2006 | 1.96 | 1.84 | 1.98 | 1.72 |
| 2005 | 1.73 | 1.82 | 1.93 | 1.71 |
| 2004 | 1.93 | 1.83 | 1.95 | 1.76 |
| 2003 | 1.78 | 1.63 | 1.79 | 1.55 |
*The Noon Buying Rate on such dates differed slightly from the rates used in the preparation of Rio Tinto’s financial statements as of such date. No representation is made that pound sterling and Australian dollar amounts have been, could have been or could be converted into dollars at the Noon Buying Rate on such dates or at any other dates.
| Year ended 31 December* | Period end |
Average rate |
High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 0.878 | 0.839 | 0.937 | 0.772 |
| 2006 | 0.788 | 0.753 | 0.791 | 0.706 |
| 2005 | 0.734 | 0.763 | 0.799 | 0.727 |
| 2004 | 0.783 | 0.737 | 0.798 | 0.686 |
| 2003 | 0.749 | 0.648 | 0.752 | 0.562 |
*The Noon Buying Rate on such dates differed slightly from the rates used in the preparation of Rio Tinto’s financial statements as of such date. No representation is made that pound sterling and Australian dollar amounts have been, could have been or could be converted into dollars at the Noon Buying Rate on such dates or at any other dates.