Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
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We operate in 35 countries where our 60,000 employees are working to find better ways to provide the materials the world needs
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The need for innovation is greater than ever
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
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We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
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Our nature-based solutions projects complement the work we're doing to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
Enabling ESG transparency
Our START™ initiative tracks traceability and responsible production of Rio Tinto materials.
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
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Refuelling the mining industry
How can we power the world’s biggest machines with new fuel solutions?
Forging a low-carbon future
How we're working to decarbonise iron ore and steel
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370,000 reasons why we’re proud to call the RFDS our partners
Our new 5-year, $14.68 million partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Queensland will help expand access to vital healthcare in rural and regional communities. Together, we’ll enhance telehealth, mental health support, Indigenous health services and chronic disease care, delivering better outcomes where they’re needed most. “This partnership with Rio Tinto is more than funding. It reflects a shared commitment to changing the trajectory of health in rural and remote Queensland,” RFDS Queensland CEO Meredith Staib said.
Each year, the RFDS provides medical care to around 370,000 Australians. That’s 370,000 reasons why we’re proud to call them our partners – but here are 3 more:
Rio and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) go back a long way. Just like the RFDS, we believe everyone deserves help, when help is needed most. That is why, since 2004, we have committed nearly A$40 million to the RFDS in Western Australia. And in August 2025, we announced a 5-year, A$14.6 million partnership with the RFDS in Queensland.
Our employees, communities, and neighbours live and work in some of the most remote parts of Australia. And the RFDS is there to help them, if they ever need it.
In 1928 RFDS founder Reverend John Flynn saw the potential of new technology, such as aviation and radio communications, to help people living in some of Australia’s most remote areas. Today two Rio Tinto LifeFlight PC-24 jets – the world’s most advanced sky-based emergency ward – provide lifesaving medical care to the furthest reaches of Western Australia. And another jet is on the way in 2022.
Just like the RFDS, technology has helped us work more safely and efficiently too. We’re proud to play a part in helping the RFDS remain the most innovative, efficient and effective aero medical service provider in the world.
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“I just thought, I need to get up the beach and get someone to take me to hospital,” Paul said. At Broome Health Campus, doctors confirmed he’d had a serious heart attack. He was stabilised but needed urgent cardiac care in Perth. The RFDS was called to transfer him on the Rio Tinto LifeFlight PC-24 jet. “I remember it clearly,” Flight Nurse Joss Forbes said. “Paul didn’t look like someone who’d just had a heart attack, he was young and fit.” The jet completed the 2,200 km journey in just 3 hours and 40 minutes, shaving 2 hours off the usual time and giving Paul the best chance at recovery. “I felt secure and safe at a time I was really vulnerable,” Paul said. Now back in Broome and back on the water, Paul says the experience gave him a deeper sense of gratitude.
The RFDS are my earth angels.
I was nine weeks pregnant when I felt excruciating pain in my stomach.
The local doctors were worried I had an ectopic pregnancy and complications with my appendix too. So they called the RFDS to fly me 200kms from Karratha to Port Hedland for urgent surgery.
I remember feeling scared on the plane, but the nurse was great – we spoke about the full moon we could see, and that helped me feel calm. I had to have two operations in Port Headland – they removed my appendix as well as one of my fallopian tubes.
I recovered well from the surgeries but then at 29 weeks pregnant, I started having signs of early labour. So the RFDS flew me to King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth. Once again, the RFDS nurse and pilot were amazing: they made jokes to comfort me!
After two and a half months in hospital our little girl, Dakoda, was born safe and well. The RFDS are the reason why I am able to hold, feed, love and watch Dakoda grow. I will always be grateful for the RFDS and for those who support them.
Glenn – a wharf supervisor at our Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland, and a long-time donator to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) – never thought he would one day be an RFDS patient.
Glenn was having chest pains when the RFDS came to his aid and quickly transferred him to Brisbane for lifesaving treatment. The self-confessed aviation fanatic managed to find humor in what he calls a “somewhat life and death situation”.
“The funny thing is, all I could think about was the plane, and how it was configured for take-off,” Glenn says.
There are a lot of reasons why we’re proud to partner with the RFDS. Helping people like Glenn is one of them.
Jamie was a 14-year-old boy helping his dad to fill grain bins on their dairy farm when he had an accident.
“I lost my balance and fell forward into an unguarded grain auger [a machine used to feed grain into silos],” says Jamie.
“Fear and panic set in immediately – I couldn’t reach the emergency stop and I was being pulled in. I could feel my fingers detaching.”
The team at the local hospital in Bunbury, Western Australia, did everything they could but Jamie needed specialist care. So the RFDS urgently flew Jamie to Perth where surgeons rebuilt his severely damaged right hand.
Today, Jamie is the general manager of one of our iron ore mines in the Pilbara – and he is proud of our partnership with the RFDS.
“The RFDS is a necessity for regional West Aussies because we have a vast state – we live, work and holiday in very remote areas.
“Without the emergency evacuation, I may have suffered the amputation of my hand across my palm.
“And I know many people who have suffered illnesses and accidents and who the RFDS helped; without them, families would be without daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers,” Jamie said.