

We continue to progress important growth opportunities and projects, to bring to market materials critical to the transition to a low-carbon economy: copper, lithium and iron ore, among others.
We have a strong portfolio of projects and exploration activity in seven commodities across more than 18 countries. We focus on investing in quality organic growth and use data and technology to improve our targeting, allowing us to uncover opportunities in areas that have been well explored by others.
Grow in materials enabling the energy transition
Our strategy also focuses on growing in materials required to support the energy transition, such as copper, lithium, aluminium and high-quality iron ore. This will ensure our portfolio remains relevant and is well-placed to meet the commodity needs of future generations.”
- Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto Chief Executive
The pursuit of the Paris Agreement goals will create additional demand for materials such as copper, lithium, aluminium and high-quality iron ore. These are essential enablers of the energy transition and the development of infrastructure for a low-carbon world. Our ambition is to increase our growth capital to $3.0 billion annually in 2023 to 2024, depending on opportunities, while continuing to provide attractive returns to our shareholders.
We will seek to grow further in copper and battery materials, and to bring additional tonnes of high-grade iron ore to market from the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) and the Simandou project in Guinea. We will continue to align our exploration spend to supplement our existing growth pipeline.
Excel in development
Deliver organic and inorganic growth, on time, on budget
Our portfolio is well-placed to meet the commodity needs of future generations, but we also need to build a pipeline of organic and inorganic growth opportunities and establish a strong track record of capital-efficient delivery.
We are broadening our approach to developing our pipeline of growth options and are testing innovative ways of bringing projects online faster. Through it all, we will maintain our absolute commitment to capital discipline and only pursue opportunities that create value.
We are also focused on further building our capabilities in business development and project execution.
We continued to successfully roll out the Rio Tinto Safe Production System (RTSPS) and now have 15 deployments across the business at 11 sites, with 30 rapid improvement projects (Kaizens) either completed or in progress. In the first half of 2022, there has been a 9% year on year improvement in average operating time across processing plants and drills at deployment sites versus the same period in 2021. We are on track to meet our 2022 target of 30 deployments at 15 sites.