Performance
Sustainable development
Safety
Safety performance and awareness continued to be a major focus of all operations. In 2008 the all injury frequency rate (AIFR) was 0.65 compared to 0.87 in 2007.
Regrettably, three fatalities occurred in 2008. The first occurred at Rio Tinto Minerals' Luzenac operations where a mobile crane driver was fatally injured when the crane he was driving overturned. The second occurred at RBM when a security guard was fatally shot while trying to apprehend a suspect who was stealing scrap metal. The third occurred at RTIT's Havre-St-Pierre port when a cable being used to position a contract vessel broke free and struck an employee.
RTIT's Quebec Iron and Titanium (QIT, or Fer et Titane), RBM, and QMM achieved significant improvements in statistical safety performance with AIFR improving by 49 per cent, 47 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Rio Tinto Minerals AIFR improved by 16 per cent and at RTCA by 20 per cent. The injury severity rate, a measure of the seriousness of injuries, decreased in all businesses except Rio Tinto Energy America (RTEA) and Energy Resources of Australia (ERA).
Rössing achieved 2.8 million lost time injury free hours for the first time and the QMM titanium project achieved in excess of 12 million hours lost time injury free. RTEA's Sustainable Development - Communities Programmes were nationally recognised by the US Office of Surface Mining and the National Mining Association with the Good Neighbour award.
Greenhouse gas emissions
In line with the group's strategy to be a leading advocate of sustainable future uses of coal, Energy & Minerals continued to dedicate resources to the development of clean coal technology. A key focus is to ensure energy and climate change are considered in business decisions.
In 2007 Hydrogen Energy was launched, a 50:50 joint venture with BP which aims to develop low carbon energy projects around the world. The group's strategic intent is to use Hydrogen Energy to build a low carbon energy business reliant on fossil fuel feedstocks that will ultimately leverage Rio Tinto's capabilities in identifying, acquiring and operating large long life coal assets. Gasification opens new and larger markets for coal and the aim is to maximise returns across the emerging coal gasification value chain. Early positioning will convey an important element of competitive advantage. A key to unlocking value will be proactively to shape government policy to support and enable initial projects.
Hydrogen Energy will initially focus on the production of hydrogen for sale to utilities generating electricity and carbon capture and storage technology to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The first projects are being pursued in Abu Dhabi and California.
Rio Tinto is a member of COAL21, a voluntary fund established by Australian black coal producers to support the development of low emission coal technologies. Members pledge 20 cents per tonne of coal produced to the fund. Rio Tinto committed A$9.76 million to the fund in 2008.
Both RTEA and RTCA have a number of NPV positive optimisations and energy reduction projects being researched or implemented. A number of optimisation projects have been identified throughout the group.
Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 10.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2008. Energy and Minerals operations each account for about half of this total.
The majority of RTM's greenhouse gas emissions are from its Boron Operations in California, the first mining operation to register its GHG emissions to the California Climate Action Registry. An energy management plan has been in place since 2002, and during 2008 RTIT sites undertook audits to identify opportunities for GHG and energy reduction.
