Energy
Chief executive, Energy: Doug Ritchie
We are a leading supplier of thermal and coking coal to the Asian seaborne market and are one of the world's largest uranium producers, serving electric power utilities worldwide. Our Energy portfolio includes: Rio Tinto Coal Australia; a coal mine at Colowyo in Colorado, US; Energy Resources of Australia, which produces uranium oxide from its Ranger operation; and Rössing, a Namibian uranium oxide producer.
Products
Overview: Thermal coal, coking coal, uranium
Coal
Coal is plentiful, relatively inexpensive, and safe and easy to transport. We are a large producer in the export thermal coal market. Thermal coal is used for electricity generation in power stations. We also produce higher value coking, or metallurgical, coal which, when treated into coke, is used in furnaces with iron ore to produce steel.
Uranium
Uranium is one of the most powerful natural energy sources known, used in the production of clean, stable, base load electricity. After uranium ore is mined, it is milled into uranium oxide, the mine product that is sent away for further processing into fuel rods for nuclear power stations.
Download the Energy fact sheet
Operational highlights in 2010
| 2010 US$ million | 2009 US$ million | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 5,652 | 4,869 |
| Operating cash flow | 2,463 | 2,069 |
| Underlying earnings (a) | 1,187 | 1,167 |
| Capital expenditure | 685 | 510 |
| Net operating assets | 3,694 | 2,809 |
Find out more on Energy's performance results in the Annual report
(a) See note 2 and the Financial information by business unit section of the 2010 financial statements for a reconciliation of underlying earnings to net earnings.
- Strategy
- 2010 key achievements
- Key priorities
- Outlook
- The Energy group is focused on safely supplying the world's growing energy needs through the responsible and sustainable development and operation of large scale, long life, cost competitive assets.
- The group aims to be a sector leader in the development and operation of the world's coal and uranium resources.
- The group seeks to build strong customer relationships and provide superior customer outcomes while earning significant premiums to the market.
- The group is pursuing opportunities for growth to meet expanding global energy demand, while continuing to focus on operational excellence, community engagement and environmental performance to ensure it is the developer of first choice.
Fact sheets
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