Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Purpose & Values
The drive for innovation and continuous improvement is at the heart of our purpose
Business Strategy
Climate change is at the heart of our business strategy
Innovation
Finding better ways to do things is in our DNA
We supply the metals and minerals used to help the world grow and decarbonise
Iron Ore
The primary raw material used to make steel, which is strong, long-lasting and cost-efficient
Lithium
The lightest of all metals, it is a key element needed for low-carbon technologies
Copper
Tough but malleable, corrosion-resistant and recyclable, and an excellent conductor of heat and transmitter of electricity
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Oyu Tolgoi
One of the most modern, safe and sustainable operations in the world
Rincon Project
A long-life, low-cost and low-carbon lithium source
Simandou Project
The world’s largest untapped high-grade iron ore deposit
Providing materials the world needs in a responsible way
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Tailings
Details of our tailings facilities can be found on our interactive tailings disclosure map
Nature solutions
Our nature-based solutions projects complement the work we're doing to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Acquisition of Arcadium Lithium
Bringing our scale, development capabilities and financial strength to the Arcadium Lithium portfolio
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Things you can't live without
Our podcast discussing what needs to happen to create a sustainable future for the everyday items we have come to rely on
The 'f' word of innovation
How unlocking innovation requires a change of mindset
Reducing titanium oxide's carbon footprint
Our BlueSmelting technology could drastically reduce carbon emissions during ore processing
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We are finding better ways™ to provide the materials the world needs. In 2023, our teams around the world sought opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint, to partner to develop technologies to decarbonise steel and aluminium production, to find more efficient ways to supply copper and critical minerals essential for the energy transition, and to create new products from waste.
We explore, we mine, we process, and our ambition continues to be a business with a commodity mix aligned with evolving customer demand in a decarbonising world. But we cannot do it on our own. So we strive to create partnerships that solve problems and create solutions with lower societal and environmental impact. The approach applies as much to large-scale, transformational innovation as it does to incremental everyday progress, such as our safety and operational performance.
Annual report
Climate change and the low-carbon transition are at the heart of our strategy. We aim to strengthen our resilience to the physical effects of climate change and secure new opportunities and partnerships created by changing market fundamentals. Our strategy is designed to deliver strong returns and growth options while reducing the environmental and social impacts of our business and broader value chains.
1Subject to the remaining conditions being met including receipt of regulatory approvals. 2The estimated annualised capacity of approximately 60 million dry tonnes per annum iron ore for the Simandou life of mine schedule was previously reported in a release to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) dated 6 December 2023 titled Investor Seminar 2023. Rio Tinto confirms that all material assumptions underpinning that production target continue to apply and have not materially changed.
3The production target of around 250 thousand tonnes of additional mined copper over the next 10 years (2023 to 2033) at Kennecott was previously reported in a release to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) dated 20 June 2023 titled Rio Tinto invests to strengthen copper supply in US. Rio Tinto confirms that all material assumptions underpinning that production target continue to apply and have not materially changed.
Continued to develop pilot projects in Madagascar and progressed pre-feasibility and feasibility work for opportunities in South Africa, Guinea, US and Argentina.
Completed a study to understand the sources of our procurement-related emissions.
Our strategy is centred around our 4 objectives: to be the best operator, to achieve impeccable ESG credentials, to excel in development and to strengthen our social licence. These essential components will help improve our productivity, reduce capital intensity and assist us in becoming a partner of choice for a range of stakeholders globally.
Safety and operational performance.
Safety is our top priority. Our focus is on eliminating fatalities, preventing catastrophic events and reducing injuries. While we had zero fatalities at our managed operations in 2023, tragically 4 colleagues died in a plane crash while travelling to our Diavik mine in January 2024. Our all-injury frequency rate (AIFR) was 0.37 in 2023 (compared to 0.40 in 2022). We are strengthening our safety maturity model (SMM) by including health and environment risks, and we are gaining greater insight into the culture at each site so we can take actions to improve.
We continued rolling out the Safe Production System (SPS) across our assets, engaging our people to identify issues and improvement opportunities and develop and share best practices across the Group.
We have deployed SPS at 56% of our sites to date, with implementation at various stages of maturity. Key performance highlights include a 5 million tonne uplift in iron ore production and a 25% improvement in AIFR globally in the second half of 2023 (when compared to the first half), at sites where SPS has been deployed.
In 2023, we announced plans to increase annual iron ore capacity at Gudai-Darri in Australia by 7 million tonnes to 50 million tonnes at a cost of $70 million through incremental productivity gains.
We also initiated a number of projects designed to improve the Group’s asset management performance. These included building up capabilities in our Asset Management Centre of Excellence, improving critical risk maintenance plans and spare parts programs and bolstering shutdown support.
In 2024, we will strengthen the way we manage our Critical Risks, our primary fatality elimination tool which helps ensure that controls are in place and working where there is a fatal risk. We will continue to enhance the understanding and impact of Critical Risk Management by focusing on quality conversations and verifications at our global operations.
We have strong standards and processes to approve air operators, including regular audits and engagements to make sure aviation safety systems match our expectations of safety and care for our people. In 2024, we will continue to work with all our sites to actively review compliance with aviation safety tools and controls to provide further assurance on top of our existing processes.
We will also evolve SMM and evaluate its impact on individuals’ mindsets, rather than simply verifying safety systems and processes. This will be strengthened through assessor training, and how we perform SMM assessments at our sites.
The rollout of the SPS will continue in 2024. Our focus will be on working with our product groups to double down on impacts at existing high-value sites, rather than new deployment launches. We will also work on significant maturity uplift of best practices, specifically problem solving, and completion of site-wide deployment and end-to-end systems. We will continue to work with asset management to integrate efforts to rapidly bring assets back to health so they can deliver industry-best performance.
Decarbonisation, nature, water and waste management, closure, communities, workforce diversity, culture and leadership.
We continued to progress our 6 large carbon abatement programs focused on repowering our Pacific Aluminium operations, renewables, ELYSIS™, alumina process heat, minerals processing and diesel transition. We also formed new partnerships with our customers to reduce value chain emissions.
We also identified several opportunities for investment in large-scale nature-based solutions with the potential to halt and reverse nature loss, support positive, sustainable change for communities and address climate change.
In 2023, we progressed a number of innovative projects designed to reduce our environmental footprint and create new revenue streams through the adoption of more circular practices. These spanned the extraction of by-products, recycling and finding new life for our closure sites.
Our work in 2023 focused on delivering our new communities and social performance strategy, underpinned by updated standards, targets and vision for the business. We continued to work on improving our approach to engage and partner with our host communities and better manage cultural heritage. In 2023, we completed an independent Cultural Heritage Audit, providing a systematic review of all the heritage sites that we manage worldwide.
In 2023, we continued to drive leadership, management and ethics and compliance improvements, with a focus on building a thriving culture, implementing the learnings from the Everyday Respect Report, and improving our transparency and practices.
In 2023, the Business Conduct Office (BCO) launched Care Hub, an independent care unit providing support, care and resolution options to anyone affected by harmful behaviours. Care Hub currently supports matters reported through myVoice.
72% of senior leaders have now completed Voyager, our senior leadership program. We also increased the offering of the Leading Sustainable Corporations and Leader as Coach programs to further support development and our cultural journey.
We will define our next round of climate and nature targets in 2024, drawing on knowledge and experience from across the business and from our external partners, to develop more holistic commitments across these key areas. We will continue to progress our emissions reduction targets to build upon those currently in place, considering learnings from the approach we have taken with our water targets.
Guided by our 2026 Communities and Social Performance Targets, a core 2024 focus is for our people in high human rights risk roles to complete job-specific and general human rights training. We will also continue to work together with communities to manage and protect heritage and find ways to deepen the impact of our social investment through strategic, outcomes-focused partnerships.
We will continue our cultural journey towards an inclusive and diverse workplace led by our values of care, courage and curiosity focusing in particular on safety, leadership and employee listening. In 2024, we will be working to clarify our measures to demonstrate progress.
Project development, future options (pipeline projects, exploration and M&A), technology development and deployment.
We have continued to advance a number of projects across the business, including making significant progress at the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea in collaboration with our joint venture partners.
In our iron ore business, Gudai-Darri reached nameplate capacity in the second quarter with the current wave of replacement mines like Robe Valley in production and Western Range commencing construction.
In our aluminium business, we announced investment in a significant AP60 expansion. We also acquired a 50% equity stake in Matalco from Giampaolo Group for $738 million (subject to closing adjustments) to become a leader in recycled aluminium supply in North America.
In our copper business, we achieved first sustainable production from the Oyu Tolgoi underground mine with associated infrastructure ramping up on schedule. Work has also progressed to expand underground operations at Kennecott.
We advanced studies and permitting at a range of greenfield projects including Resolution and Winu, and formed a joint venture with First Quantum to help unlock the La Granja copper project.
We also continued to fill and progress our pipeline of exploration opportunities. We entered a joint venture (Nuevo Cobre) with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) to explore and potentially develop copper assets in Chile’s prospective Atacama region.
We continued to progress our technology roadmap while building our technical capabilities and partnership networks. In 2023, we progressed 130 priority research and development projects, including 32 growth-focused projects on discovering new ore bodies, reducing capital intensity and unlocking new revenue streams.
We will continue to explore new approaches, technologies and partnership opportunities to discover, progress and develop projects to support future growth in close consultation with communities. We will manage our pipeline of opportunities to deliver high-quality growth options, with a strong focus on materials needed in a decarbonising world.
Future priorities include development of the mine, rail and port infrastructure for Simandou in Guinea in collaboration with our partners, construction of the Rincon lithium starter plant in Argentina, management of key closure projects at Argyle and Gove and optimisation of the next tranche of replacement mines in the Pilbara.
We will continue to explore and evaluate new mining, processing, technology and renewable energy opportunities to ensure we maintain a high-quality portfolio of short-, medium- and long-term growth options that can deliver strong and resilient cash flows throughout the cycle.
Adopting a multi-stakeholder approach for external engagements to deepen connections and build mutually beneficial partnerships. Building cultural capability and competency across the Group to ensure we fully understand, value and partner with our host communities.
In 2023, we piloted a Group-wide approach to community perception monitoring that brings the voices of communities into the business, supporting deeper, more effective and data-driven social performance.
We also signed an MoU with the YEC to explore opportunities to collaborate on renewable energy projects on Yindjibarndi Country in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) and the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach signed an agreement to establish a mutually beneficial relationship based on dialogue, collaboration and trust over the coming decades. This socio-economic agreement aims to create opportunities for greater participation by the Naskapi People in IOC’s activities through training and development, employment, collaboration on environmental projects, and procurement.
Our future priorities are informed by our 2026 Communities and Social Performance (CSP) targets which help us monitor progress toward the core objectives of our CSP strategy. Our targets guide progress across the business as well as for individual assets, which will continue to maintain local targets and metrics, developed in consultation with local communities.
In 2024, a core focus is on ensuring all employees in high human rights risk roles complete job-specific and general human rights training. We will also continue to progress longer term targets including by 2026 for:
Understanding and acting on the perceptions of communities who host our operations is essential. We will roll out our new community perception monitoring program that we piloted in 2023 to all our assets throughout 2024 and 2025.
We continue to find better ways to work with communities and Indigenous Peoples, particularly in how we protect heritage. Our approach aims to enhance our understanding and appreciation of cultural heritage and ensure the voices of communities inform our planning and decision making.
Our focus in 2023, and as we move into 2024, has been on embedding an empowering culture and on delivering consistent operational performance to progress our 4 key strategic objectives."
Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, contractors and communities. We remain committed to evolving our culture and processes to ensure everyone goes home safely every day.”
In 2023, our financial results were resilient, driven by an improvement in our operational performance. As we shape our portfolio for the future, we will continue to allocate capital with discipline."
We use a range of financial and non-financial metrics to measure Group performance against our 4 objectives: to be best operator; to achieve impeccable environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials; to excel in development; and to strengthen our social licence.
We define AIFR as the number of injuries per 200,000 hours worked by employees and contractors at the operations that we manage. It includes medical treatment cases, restricted workday and lost-day injuries.
The safety and wellbeing of our employees and contractors is our number one priority. We are committed to having a safe work environment and our focus is on eliminating fatalities, preventing catastrophic events and reducing injuries. We continue to implement our safety maturity model (SMM). By implementing our systems, including SMM, critical risk management (CRM) and the Safe Production System (SPS), we are ensuring we advance our safety culture and foster both physical and psychological safety.
We continue to share learnings and strengthen our partnerships with industry and associated committees (such as the International Council on Mining and Metals), contracting partners and local communities to improve health, safety and wellbeing outcomes.
AIFR and SMM are included as performance metrics in the safety component of the short-term incentive plan (STIP).
Our AIFR was 0.37 in 2023, an improvement from 2022 (2022: 0.40). While we had no fatalities at managed operations in 2023, tragically 4 colleagues died in a plane crash travelling to our Diavik mine in January 2024.
We will renew focus on our critical risk management program. We will also work on embedding enhancements to the SMM.
TSR is a combination of share price appreciation (using annual average share price) and dividends paid and reinvested to show the total return to the shareholder over the preceding 5 years.
Our strategy aims to maximise shareholder returns through the commodity cycle, and TSR is a direct measure of that.
TSR is reflected in the long-term incentive plan (LTIP), measured equally against a mining based index (the EMIX Global Mining Index historically and from 1 August 2023 the S&P Global Mining Index) and a broader-based index of large global corporates (the MSCI World Index).
TSR performance over the 5-year period was driven principally by movements in commodity prices and changes in the global macro environment. Rio Tinto significantly outperformed both the EMIX Global Mining Index and the MSCI World Index over the 5-year period.
We will continue to focus on generating free cash flow from our operations. This allows us to return cash to shareholders (short-term returns) while investing in the business (long-term returns).
1The TSR calculation for each period is based on the change in the calendar-year average share prices for Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited over the preceding 5 years. This is consistent with the methodology used for calculating the vesting outcomes for Performance Share Awards (PSA). The data presented in this chart accounts for the dual corporate structure of Rio Tinto.
Underlying ROCE is a non-IFRS measure defined as underlying earnings excluding net interest divided by average capital employed (operating assets). For more information and a reconciliation of underlying ROCE to the nearest comparable IFRS measure, see Alternative Performance Measures.
Our portfolio of low-cost, long-life assets delivers attractive returns throughout the cycle and has been reshaped significantly in recent years. Underlying ROCE measures how efficiently we generate profits from investment in our portfolio of assets.
Underlying earnings, as a component of underlying ROCE, is included in the STIP. In the longer term, underlying ROCE also influences TSR, which is included in the LTIP.
Underlying ROCE decreased 5 percentage points to 20% in 2023, reflecting the decrease in underlying earnings driven by lower commodity prices, and an increase in capital employed due to capital expenditure and acquisitions.
We will continue to focus on maximising returns from our assets over the short, medium and long term. We will invest with discipline to strengthen our operations while delivering growth in a decarbonising world.
Underlying earnings1 and underlying EBITDA are non-IFRS measures. Underlying earnings represents net earnings attributable to the owners of Rio Tinto, adjusted to exclude items that do not reflect the underlying performance of the Group’s operations. For more information on these exclusions and a reconciliation to the nearest IFRS measures refer to Alternative Performance Measures.
Underlying EBITDA is a segmental performance measure and represents profit before tax, net finance items, depreciation and amortisation.
These financial KPIs measure how well we are managing costs, increasing productivity and generating the most revenue from each of our assets.
Underlying earnings are reflected in the STIP. In the longer term, both measures influence TSR, which is the primary measure for the LTIP.
Underlying earnings of $11.8 billion were $1.6 billion lower than in 2022. Underlying EBITDA of $23.9 billion was $2.4 billion lower than in 2022. The 9% decrease in underlying EBITDA resulted from lower commodity prices and higher operating unit costs partially offset by improvements in sales volumes across our portfolio.
We remain focused on cost control, in particular maintaining discipline over fixed costs to drive attractive margins and returns across our portfolio.
1Comparative information for year 2021 and 2022 has been restated to reflect the adoption of narrow scope amendments to IAS12 Income Taxes.
This KPI refers to cash generated by our operations after tax and interest, including dividends received from equity accounted units and dividends paid to non-controlling interests in subsidiaries.
This KPI measures our ability to convert underlying earnings into cash.
Net cash generated from operating activities is included in the STIP. In the longer term, the measure influences TSR. In the longer term, the measure influences TSR, which is included in the LTIP.
Net cash generated from operating activities of $15.2 billion was 6% lower than 2022. This was primarily driven by price movements for our major commodities and a modest rise in working capital.
We continue to focus on effectively delivering strong and stable cash flows while optimising the health and performance of our assets.
Free cash flow is a non-IFRS measure defined as net cash generated from operating activities minus purchases of property, plant and equipment, intangibles, and payments of lease principal, plus proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets.
This KPI measures the net cash returned by the business after the expenditure of sustaining and growth capital. This cash can be used for shareholder returns, reducing debt and other investment.
Free cash flow is included in the STIP. In the longer term, the measure influences TSR, which is included in the LTIP.
Free cash flow decreased by $1.4 billion to $7.7 billion in 2023, primarily due to the decrease in net cash generated from operating activities and increases in sustaining and growth capital expenditure.
Net (debt)/cash is a non-IFRS measure defined as total borrowings plus lease liabilities less cash and cash equivalents and other liquid investments, adjusted for derivatives related to net (debt)/cash (see note 19 of the financial statements).
This KPI measures how we are managing our balance sheet and capital structure. A strong balance sheet is essential for giving us the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, and for returning cash to shareholders.
Net (debt)/cash is, in part, an outcome of free cash flow, which itself is reflected in the STIP. In the longer term, net (debt)/cash influences TSR, which is reflected in the LTIP.
Net debt remained stable at $4.2 billion. This included free cash flow of $7.7 billion, offset by dividends of $6.5 billion and the $0.7 billion acquisition of Matalco1.
We measure our Scope 1 and 22 greenhouse gas emissions on an equity basis. It includes the equity share of Scope 1 and 2 emissions from managed and non-managed operations expressed in million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Climate risks and opportunities have formed part of our strategic thinking and investment decisions for over 2 decades. The low-carbon transition is at the heart of our business strategy. We focus on growth in the materials that enable the transition, decarbonising our operations and partnering with our customers to decarbonise our value chains.
Climate change is included in our ESG metrics for executive remuneration with a weighting of 10% of the STIP. The carbon abatement target set for 2023 was 10Mt CO2e.
A total of 29 projects progressed though a development stage during the year, leading to an above target performance of 12Mt CO2e abatement expected by 2030. We have put forward proposals to incorporate decarbonisation related performance measures into our LTIP as part of our 2024 Remuneration Policy.
Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 32.6Mt CO2e in 2023. This is 6% below our adjusted 2018 baseline of 34.5Mt CO2e and slightly below our 2022 adjusted emissions of 32.7Mt CO2e (adjusted for acquisitions). Abatement delivered by our projects in 2023 exceeded emissions growth from higher production giving a slight reduction in emissions on a like for like basis.
Our 2023 emissions were slightly higher than our actual 2022 emissions total of 32.3Mt CO2e due to the recent acquisitions of additional equity in OT and MRN.
By 2025, we expect to have made financial commitments to abatement projects that will achieve more than 15% of Group emissions. However, it is expected our actual emissions abatement will lag this.
2In 2023, we improved our carbon emissions reporting and now use the market-based method as our primary measure for assessing performance against our emissions targets. Further detail on this change in reporting and the implications for our emissions baseline is available in our 2023 Addendum - Scope 1, 2 and 3 Emissions Calculation Methodology.
Includes our total workforce based on managed operations (excludes the Group’s share of non-managed operations and joint ventures)4.
Inclusion and diversity are imperative for the sustainable success of the business. Our sustained performance and growth rely on having workforce diversity that is representative of the communities in which we operate and having a workplace where people are valued for who they are and encouraged to contribute to their full potential.
In 2023, we set a target to increase the proportion of women in our workforce by 2 percentage points. This target is included in our ESG metrics for executive remuneration, with a weighting of 5% of the STIP.
In this first year of the target, our representation of women at Rio Tinto increased from 22.9% to 24.3%, a 1.4 percentage point increase. We saw improvements across all levels of the organisation with senior leaders increasing from 28.3% to 30.1%, and operations and general support increasing from 16.2% to 17.7%.
Our target to increase the proportion of women in our workforce year-on-year creates an important focus.
We are focused on implementing the recommendations from the Everyday Respect Report and we are confident that this will improve both the attraction and retention of women and other diverse groups to Rio Tinto.
3In 2020, we updated our definition of our total workforce to include those employees who were unavailable for work (eg on parental leave) and temporary contractors. Note: less than 1% of the workforce gender is undeclared.
4Baseline reset with definition for 2020 to 2023 gender diversity.
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As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
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As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
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