Performance

The combined Copper & Diamonds portfolio comprises a diverse mix of operations and projects.

The Copper group is a world leader in copper production. It includes Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC) in the US and interests in the producing copper mines of Escondida in Chile, Grasberg in Indonesia, Northparkes in Australia and Palabora in South Africa. In 2008, the Copper group produced approximately 700,000 tonnes of copper, which places it among the top five copper producers in the world. Molybdenum and gold are valuable by-products of KUC's Bingham Canyon mine.

In addition to its producing assets, the group has interests in three of the world's largest known undeveloped greenfield copper projects. The group also has the potential to become a major nickel producer with projects in the US and Indonesia.

Rio Tinto Diamonds includes Rio Tinto's 60 per cent interest in the Diavik diamonds mine located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the wholly owned Argyle mine in Western Australia and Rio Tinto's 78 per cent interest in the Murowa mine in Zimbabwe. Diamond sales and marketing are centralised in Antwerp, with representative offices in New York and Mumbai. Rio Tinto Diamonds is the third largest diamond producer in the world by volume.

At 31 December 2008, the Copper & Diamonds group had operating assets of US$5,536 million, which accounted for nine per cent of the Group's operating assets, compared to US$5,359 million of operating assets at 31 December 2007. In 2008, the Copper & Diamonds group contributed US$6,669 million in revenue and US$1,758 million in underlying earnings, which accounted for 11 per cent and 17 per cent of the Group's gross sales revenue and underlying earnings, respectively, and compared to US$9,521 million of revenue and US$3,751 million of underlying earnings in 2007.

Bret Clayton, chief executive Copper & Diamonds, is based in London.

*A reconciliation of the net earnings with underlying earnings for 2006, 2007 and 2008 as determined under EU IFRS is set out in the Group financial performance.
All amounts presented by the product groups exclude net interest and other centrally reported items.