Who we are

Socio-economic programmes

In 2007, Rio Tinto businesses supported more than 2,900 socioeconomic programmes covering a wide range of activities including health, education, business development, housing, environmental protection and agricultural development.

We spent an estimated US$107 million on community assistance programmes and payments into benefits receiving trusts set up in directly negotiated community impact benefit agreements. This does not include economic multiplier contributions, such as salaries and wages, local procurement, infrastructure, housing and utilities support.

The acquisition of Alcan brought together two similar approaches to facilitating sustainable communities, with complementary community support programmes not yet fully captured in this report.

By understanding our economic interaction with the communities where we operate we can optimise benefits for communities and our operations alike. This economic interaction includes relationships with local suppliers, training and local employment, small enterprise support, the optimal distribution of taxes and royalties and multi-lateral socio-economic programmes. The infrastructure developed for a particular mine or processing plant can also greatly benefit local communities and other regional players such as local businesses and governments.