Our commitment to Australia

In undertaking this assessment, the following assumptions have been made:

• For the purposes of this report, “Rio Tinto” means the companies comprising the Rio Tinto Group, including Rio Tinto plc, Rio Tinto Limited and their related bodies corporate and any unincorporated joint venture which they manage or have a participating interest of not less than 50%. It also includes Gladstone Power Station, which is 42.125% owned by Rio Tinto and not managed by the Group. ACIL Allen’s study describes the economic impact associated with fully operating these sites. An exception is the impact associated with taxes paid. Taxes and royalties data is prepared based on a 100% basis for all operations in which Rio Tinto has a controlling interest, and for its share where it does no have a controlling interest.
• All results and input data were based on Rio Tinto’s operational footprint and activities during the 2019 calendar year. 
• All monetary values are expressed in Australian dollars.
• The analysis includes expenditure to operate Rio Tinto’s operations in Australia as well as spending on exploration and construction activities in Australia.
• All production, spending, community investment, employment and taxation and royalty data has been supplied by Rio Tinto, Tomago Aluminium, Queensland Alumina Limited and Gladstone Power Station.
• All economic impact results are based on Rio Tinto’s operations in Australia, and are related to the spending on goods, services, community investments and wages to operate the assets as well as the spending by employees on goods and services through wages earned. There is also an impact from the revenue earned by each of the Rio Tinto operations.

In undertaking this study, ACIL Allen developed Input Output models of the Australian, Queensland, Western Australian, Tasmanian and Gladstone economies to estimate the economic impact of Rio Tinto’s operations on these economies.

Input Output tables capture the direct and indirect effects of expenditure by capturing, for each industry, the industries it purchases inputs from and the industries it sells its outputs to. For example, the Input Output model for Western Australia captures purchases from and sales to industries located in Western Australia, as well as ‘imports’ from outside of Western Australia including from other States and Territories in Australia. Rio Tinto’s operations effectively form an industry in the Input Output tables, and data describing Rio Tinto’s operations was entered into the model to trace the linkages between it and other industries.

These linkages have been used to determine the economic impact of Rio Tinto’s operations on the economy. The outputs of the economic modelling were:

• Contribution to Gross State Product, Gross Domestic Product, and in the case of Gladstone, Gross Regional Product – Gross State, Domestic and Regional Product are measures of the size or value of an economy over a period of time. For this report, they are a measure of the value of Rio Tinto’s operations to the economy in 2019.
• Contribution to real incomes – real incomes (real wages and salaries incomes) provide a measure of the welfare of residents in an economy or their ability to purchase goods and services and to accumulate wealth. Real income measures the income available for final consumption and saving after adjusting for inflation. For this report, the contribution that Rio Tinto’s operations make to the real incomes of people living in Australia in 2019 has been estimated.
• Employment creation – employment creation is measured in full time job years which is the employment of one full-time equivalent (FTE) person for one year. Its measure is therefore potentially less than the number of employed people which will include a count of the number of full-time, part-time, casual and contract workers. It includes the FTE workers that are directly employed in Rio Tinto’s operations.

The professional analysis and advice in this report has been prepared by ACIL Allen Consulting for the exclusive use of the party or parties to whom it is addressed (the addressee) and for the purposes specified in it. This report is supplied in good faith and reflects the knowledge, expertise and experience of the consultants involved. The report must not be published, quoted or disseminated to any other party without ACIL Allen Consulting’s prior written consent. ACIL Allen Consulting accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of reliance on the report, other than the addressee.

In conducting the analysis in this report ACIL Allen Consulting has endeavoured to use what it considers is the best information available at the date of publication, including information supplied by the addressee. ACIL Allen Consulting has relied upon the information provided by the addressee and has not sought to verify the accuracy of the information supplied. Unless stated otherwise, ACIL Allen Consulting does not warrant the accuracy of any forecast or projection in the report. Although ACIL Allen Consulting exercises reasonable care when making forecasts or projections, factors in the process, such as future market behaviour, are inherently uncertain and cannot be forecast or projected reliably.

ACIL Allen Consulting shall not be liable in respect of any claim arising out of the failure of a client investment to perform to the advantage of the client or to the advantage of the client to the degree suggested or assumed in any advice or forecast given by ACIL Allen Consulting.

© ACIL Allen Consulting 2020