Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

Preston Chiaro – Energy

The power behind the power

“I would never work for a mining company,” the 37 year old Preston Chiaro told a friend at Kennecott Utah Copper in 1991. The company had asked if he would be interested in applying his environmental engineering experience to help them solve the huge clean up problems they were facing at the recently acquired Bingham Canyon mine.

But today, Chiaro aged 50, heads Rio Tinto's Energy group. He is responsible for global coal and uranium operations that place Rio Tinto among the top producers in three of its four key markets.

So why the change of heart? “Well, the more I learned about the environmental issues confronting Kennecott and the more I saw how serious the company's management was about wanting to put things right, the more interested I became,“ he explains. “And before I knew it, I was on the payroll.”

His prior career path made him an ideal candidate for the new job. After taking a bachelor's and then a master's degree in environmental engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Chiaro worked for consulting companies on projects ranging from water treatment plants to landfills for industrial and domestic waste.



Preston Chiaro – Energy The power behind the power “I would never work for a mining company,” the 37 year old Preston Chiaro told a friend at Kennecott Utah Copper in 1991. The company had asked if he would be interested in applying his environmental engineering experience to help them solve the huge clean up problems they were facing at the recently acquired Bingham Canyon mine. But today, Chiaro aged 50, heads Rio Tinto's Energy group. He is responsible for global coal and uranium operations that place Rio Tinto among the top producers in three of its four key markets. So why the change of heart? “Well, the more I learned about the environmental issues confronting Kennecott and the more I saw how serious the company's management was about wanting to put things right, the more interested I became,“ he explains. “And before I knew it, I was on the payroll.” His prior career path made him an ideal candidate for the new job. After taking a bachelor's and then a master's degree in environmental engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Chiaro worked for consulting companies on projects ranging from water treatment plants to landfills for industrial and domestic waste.
PAGE 1 OF 6

Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer