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
Iron ore is the primary raw material used to make steel
7 things the world will need for a low-carbon future
Wind, sun and water – what else do you need to make renewable energy work?
Sustainability – the expectation, not the exception
Shaping our aluminium product offering to meet demand for greener metals
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Look inside a mine of the future
Our most intelligent mine yet is pioneering new mining technologies
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
Sustainability Reporting 2023
As temporary custodians of the land where we operate, we are entrusted with accessing the world’s essential materials and making them available for society’s use
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Tailings
We’ve launched a new interactive map of our tailings facilities
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Reports 2023
Download our 2023 Annual Report, Climate Change Report, Sustainability Fact Book and Taxes Paid Report
Get the latest news, stories and updates
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
A new way to decarbonise steel
Tackling a global challenge
Tackling it all
A short documentary series with the Queensland Reds is inspiring working women everywhere
Discover more about life at Rio Tinto
Graduates and students
If you want to drive real change, we have just the place to do it
Empowering families with flexibility
Supporting new parents of any gender with equal access to parental leave
Available jobs
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Producing the materials the world needs requires access to land. However, mines are finite and as temporary custodians of the land, we need to consider the end right from the very start, planning and operating with the future in mind. Caring for the land is also essential to the protection of biodiversity and the natural heritage of the environments where we live and work.
We have rehabilitation programs in place, which are reviewed every year, and dedicated teams that look after the land throughout the life of the operation. Our engineers, environmental scientists and cultural heritage experts work with academic institutions, civil society organisations, Indigenous peoples and other members of the community to make sure rehabilitation is done in ways that ensure a successful, self-sustaining outcome in line with the expectations of regulators and host communities.
When we begin exploration, long before our operations start, we work with local communities, including Indigenous peoples, to understand the physical, spiritual and cultural connection they have with the land. We conduct cultural heritage and environmental studies to understand the area and look for ways to avoid or reduce any impacts.
We strive to obtain the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous peoples, as applicable in local jurisdictions, and also engage other affected communities. We were the first mining company in Australia to welcome native title to land and commit to forming agreements with Indigenous landowners. But we know we need to do better.
Our Gove Operations, in North East Arnhem land are located on Indigenous land. The Yolngu have lived in the region for more than 65,000 years and practise one of the longest living traditional cultures in the world. Our lease areas contain a wide range of cultural heritage features and values including significant sacred sites, such as the Banyan Tree (Dhanburama) and Dimbuka Rock (Dhimbukawuy). These sites have been preserved in place, co-existing safely alongside our operations.
Over the past decade, we have worked closely with the Yolngu People to help protect these and other sites at our Gove operations. This includes regular consultation and specific management plans detailing each site’s cultural values, how access is controlled, and the monitoring activities.
As Gove enters its last decade of operation, we continue to work closely with the Yolngu People to make sure we rehabilitate the land around these sacred sites in the right way and help preserve them for future generations.
In 2023, we rehabilitated 22 square kilometres of land, mostly at our iron ore mines and exploration areas in the Pilbara, Western Australia and our mineral sands mines in South Africa and Madagascar. Of this, we rehabilitated 4.5 square kilometres of ex-pit landforms and legacy areas across our Pilbara mines. This is part of our Iron Ore business’s plan to increase rehabilitation, in partnership with Pilbara Aboriginal businesses. Since 2021, we have completed 24 square kilometres of land rehabilitation across our Pilbara mine operations.
In Mongolia, we have rehabilitated 4 square kilometres of abandoned mine workings based outside our operational footprint, along valley floors and river beds in the Selenge province. This is a part of Oyu Tolgoi’s commitment to the Government of Mongolia’s national movement to plant one billion trees by 2030.
In 2023, our land footprint – total disturbed area – was 3,848 square kilometres, an increase of 38 square kilometres compared to 2022. This includes all disturbances to our operating assets and activities, such as exploration activities, smelters, mines and supporting infrastructure.
Our rehabilitation teams continue to partner with research centres and universities to refine our rehabilitation approaches and improve outcomes.
We continue to support the Australian-led Cooperative Research Centre for Transformation in Mining Economies (CRC TiMe) through research that addresses the complex challenges underpinning mine closure and relinquishment. At our bauxite mines and refineries we have continued trials focusing on transforming stored tailing material into soils that will support plant growth. We also continued trials using satellite-derived data to test methodologies aimed at providing insights to support onground monitoring for vegetation and erosion monitoring of rehabilitation. In addition, 16 of our operations completed rehabilitation trials to improve seed germination, erosion and topsoil quality.
We share our learnings with our operations globally, and with our industry partners. For example, we were founding members of the Proteus Partnership, a unique collaboration between the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and extractive industries. In 2020 we renewed this partnership to extend it for a further 5 years.
The partnership is focused on improving internationally accepted information and data on protected areas and biodiversity, to support decision-making on conservation and help partners like us ensure that impacts are mitigated effectively. This information includes private sector contributions and is available through the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT).
We also use these tools to understand more about protected areas within or adjacent to potential exploration projects, so we can understand risk and make decisions on how to proceed to ensure our future footprint does not negatively impact areas of biodiversity importance.
Archaeologists and scientists play an essential role in documenting and understanding the history within the areas that we plan to operate. Still, local people with the historical and cultural connections to the land know it best. Working side-by-side with Native American community members helps ensure we capture these perspectives as part of survey work that informs and improves our project.
The Resolution Copper project is a proposed underground copper mine in Arizona, in the western United States. The project area is located roughly 60 miles east of Phoenix, near the town of Superior. It has a long history of copper mining dating back to the 1870s.
In 2018, we partnered with the US Forest Service (USFS) to establish a Tribal Monitor program to work alongside archaeologists and scientists to identify and record tribal perspectives on all aspects of the lands. The first of its kind with the USFS, the program invites members of each tribe with historical ties to the planned areas of operation to train and work as part of specialised teams to identify and record important Native American sites and artefacts. Tribal Monitors provide a unique perspective and traditional ecological knowledge alongside archaeological insights.
The program also provides another way for tribes to participate in the project's development, along with jobs, education and natural resource stewardship opportunities for tribal members. Today, the program employs around 30 members from 7 Native American tribes to help conduct the ongoing environmental and cultural heritage activities associated with the project.
In June 2020, the State Historic Preservation Office and Arizona Preservation Foundation named the program as an honouree for the Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission Awards in Public Archaeology. The program was recognised for its significant contribution to the protection, preservation, and education of Arizona's non-renewable archaeological resources.
In recognition of the value of the Tribal Monitor work, the Tribes consulting on Resolution Copper have selected its continuation for inclusion in long term mitigations and measures for the project. We hope the Tribal Monitor program continues to grow and sets a new standard for collaboration between companies, tribes, and government agencies.
Our Argyle mine ceased production in November 2020, after generating more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds in 37 years. As we move into closing and rehabilitating the mine, we continue to work closely with the Miriuwung and Gidja People, the Traditional Owners, to respectfully return the land.
We are working with 14 Indigenous seed pickers, including Traditional Owners, and local enterprise Gelganyem to collect native seeds to restore the land in the mining lease. Each day the group collect up to 10 kilograms of seed from up to 19 different species. The seeds are then processed, cleaned and stored for sale at the Gelganyem processing facility in Kununurra, around 200km away from the Argyle mine site.
Although still in its early days, Gelganyem plans to grow the business to help meet the increasing demand in Australia for restoration seeds and provide more opportunities for Indigenous employment and training, as well as for future generations to connect to Country.
For nearly 120 years, Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine has been operating in Utah, US, on the edge of the state’s largest city – Salt Lake City. Many of the valley’s one million residents have a view of the operation’s waste rock dumps.
The current mine plan takes the existing operation to 2038, with growth studies currently underway that could extend the life of the mine further. However, rather than wait for closure, Kennecott’s reclamation program has been successfully ongoing over many years, including beginning to revegetate and restore the waste rock dumps.
In 2020, we signed a 3-year partnership with Brigham Young University’s Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, focused primarily on innovative waste rock dump reclamation research. The work is being conducted by graduate and undergraduate students and supervised by Brigham Young University professors. The partnership will:
This partnership offers a unique opportunity to integrate current environmental work with an eye to the future and to advance preparation for closure. It is a key part of our commitment to our neighbouring communities and stakeholders to explore innovative science and research to address the issue of reclamation of the waste dumps and land impacted by mining activity.
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With the exception of the use of cookies, 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.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
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.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
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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