Principle 6

Rio Tinto requires all recruitment to be consistent with the human rights policy, equal opportunity requirements and relevant employee protection legislation. In 2007 we had a 50% increase in the proportion of women in the graduate intake compared to the 2004 baseline, and more than 1,000 people attended regional and global leadership and functional development programmes.

Rio Tinto is committed to working in partnership with Indigenous communities. We are  now the largest private sector employer of indigenous people in Australia and work with local communities to support intergenerational priorities for indigenous people in areas impacted by our mining operations.

During 2007, we increased Australian indigenous employment by 367 people to 1,212 or 8% of Rio Tinto's Australian workforce. The biggest increase was seen at Rio Tinto Iron Ore, which now employs 518 indigenous people (11% of the workforce) compared to 274 in 2006.

At Rio Tinto's diamond mine in the Canada's Northern Territory, the third Aboriginal Leadership Development Program was rolled out in 2007, bringing the total number of graduates to 26.  The mining operation continues to exceed original employment estimates, and the local, Northern workforce exceeded 500 workers, of whom approximately half are Aborginal.