Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

Chris Renwick - Iron Ore

Iron ore burns bright

Chris Renwick, 61, who retires as chief executive of Rio Tinto's Iron Ore group later this year, has been the longest serving of Rio Tinto's product group heads, having been appointed to the position in 1997. But the iron in his blood can actually be traced back much further, to his very first days in the company. He joined Hamersley Iron, then a CRA subsidiary, as a legal officer in 1969 after graduating with law and arts degrees from Melbourne University and working for three years in private legal practice.

Although his life with Rio Tinto has seen him cast in a variety of different roles, it is the iron ore business, and Hamersley in particular, that has run like a magnetic thread through his career. When he first joined Hamersley, it was a fledgling company, barely three years old, with an annual capacity from its one mine, Mount Tom Price, of a mere 17.5 million tonnes. Today Hamersley operates six mines and produces about 75 million tonnes of iron ore a year. What's more ambitious plans are under way to expand its mining and export capacity to some 116 million tonnes.

"And in December last year we secured board approval for the expansion of the port facilities at Dampier and for boosting production at Hamersley's Yandicoogina mine and at Robe River's West Angelas mine," says Renwick.

"Since then, we've committed to further expenditure on new and expanded rail and power infrastructure. Together, these projects will cost more than US$1bn and when they are on stream Rio Tinto Iron Ore will have an export production capacity from the Pilbara of some 180 million tonnes a year."



Chris Renwick - Iron Ore Iron ore burns bright Chris Renwick, 61, who retires as chief executive of Rio Tinto's Iron Ore group later this year, has been the longest serving of Rio Tinto's product group heads, having been appointed to the position in 1997. But the iron in his blood can actually be traced back much further, to his very first days in the company. He joined Hamersley Iron, then a CRA subsidiary, as a legal officer in 1969 after graduating with law and arts degrees from Melbourne University and working for three years in private legal practice. Although his life with Rio Tinto has seen him cast in a variety of different roles, it is the iron ore business, and Hamersley in particular, that has run like a magnetic thread through his career. When he first joined Hamersley, it was a fledgling company, barely three years old, with an annual capacity from its one mine, Mount Tom Price, of a mere 17.5 million tonnes. Today Hamersley operates six mines and produces about 75 million tonnes of iron ore a year. What's more ambitious plans are under way to expand its mining and export capacity to some 116 million tonnes. "And in December last year we secured board approval for the expansion of the port facilities at Dampier and for boosting production at Hamersley's Yandicoogina mine and at Robe River's West Angelas mine," says Renwick. "Since then, we've committed to further expenditure on new and expanded rail and power infrastructure. Together, these projects will cost more than US$1bn and when they are on stream Rio Tinto Iron Ore will have an export production capacity from the Pilbara of some 180 million tonnes a year."
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer