Employees carrying out RDA works at Gove Operations

Transparency

Transparency encourages accountability – ours as well as others’ – and allows us to have fact-based conversations about the issues at hand.

Being open about our tax payments, mineral development contracts, beneficial ownership and our stance on a range of other sustainability issues – like climate change – allows us to enter into open, fact-based conversations with our stakeholders, and provides a better understanding of everyone's roles and responsibilities.

We are recognised as a leader in transparent tax reporting: we were the first in our industry to disclose our payments to governments, and we have been reporting on our taxes and royalties paid, and our economic contribution, in increasing detail since 2010. 

We are a founding member of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and have actively supported EITI’s principles and global transparency and accountability standards since 2003. In 2018, we became a signatory to the B Team Responsible Tax Principles. In 2021, we reinforced our commitment to transparency over tax reporting by being one of the first companies to fully implement the disclosure requirements under the Global Reporting Initiative Tax standard GRI 207.

We engage in public policy on issues that affect or could affect our business, including by contributing relevant information and sharing experiences that help create viable outcomes. 

Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) - declaration of support

Rio Tinto is a founding member and current Board member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a supporter of the EITI Principles and has played an active role in this global standard since 2003. In June 2023, Rio Tinto was assessed as having met all the Expectations of EITI Companies, a requirement for Board members.

Through increased and improved disclosures, EITI seeks to strengthen public and corporate governance, promote understanding of natural resource management and provide the data to inform reforms for greater transparency and accountability in the extractives sector.

Rio Tinto is committed to improved mineral resource governance and has played a leading role in the disclosure of tax payments to governments, mineral development contracts with governments, and beneficial ownership information.

Discussion in the Shanghai office

Our transparency statement

As a founding member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and signatory to the B Team Responsible Tax Principles, we believe that greater transparency and accountability is key to building trust and encouraging sustainable business practices. We will disclose contracts with governments in relation to minerals development, where they are not subject to a confidentiality undertaking. We encourage governments to allow such disclosure. 

We commit to disclosing taxes paid and payments to governments. We also support beneficial ownership disclosure and will strive to provide information of the beneficial owners of those entities that we have joint ventures with, in line with the EITI Standard and expectations.

We actively engage with governments and other stakeholders to share our experiences on disclosure and transparency, and encourage the harmonisation of reporting obligations aligned with global best practice.

Transparency Statement
PDF
37 KB

Transparent tax reporting

We are recognised as a leader in transparent tax reporting: we were the first in our industry to disclose our payments to governments, and we have been reporting on our taxes and royalties paid, and our economic contribution, in increasing detail since 2010.

We are working closely with governments and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on new tax reporting codes and policies to ensure consistency in our reporting procedures. We also endorse The B Team Responsible Tax Principles, which aim to drive fairer, more sustainable tax systems and global standards of responsible tax practice.

Contract disclosure

We are also recognised for making our mineral development contracts with governments publicly available, where we are able to do so without breaching confidentiality agreements. We also actively encourage the governments we work with to allow us to disclose these contracts.

By being open about the terms of our contracts with governments, everyone can see what we are contributing to our host communities. And by supporting greater transparency across our industry, we can contribute to the responsible management of natural resources, help prevent corruption and seek to provide our communities with a strong foundation for prosperity.

  • Our contracts
  • What do these contracts say?

Our contracts

This table sets out our contracts with governments relating to mineral development. It includes our initial 2019 disclosure, as well as a 2020 disclosure of all remaining contracts. We will continue to add to this over time as we enter into new contracts.

We have disclosed contracts relating to large, well-progressed projects which justify having specific contracting arrangements. We have not included contracts with a minimal or indirect connection to mineral development, nor licences and legislation which also apply to other companies and projects.

We welcome feedback about our disclosures.

Contract Disclosure Table
PDF
145 KB

What do these contracts say?

The contracts are legal documents, which can be long and hard to read.

The projects covered by these contracts are significant for both parties. The host governments and their citizens are granting access to non-renewable resources and receiving significant financial and non-financial benefits in return, and we are making significant financial investments to develop the project. Contracts give certainty to both parties, which is critical for big projects, and guides expectations as to how we will work together during the life of a mining project.

The contracts set out commitments we have made with host governments, including some of the rights and obligations associated with a project. However, they also apply alongside other local and international laws, as well as other contracts that the parties may have entered into in relation to the project. This could include contracts with native title holders and local communities, joint venture partners, suppliers, financiers or other parties.

All projects are different, and all governments have different mining laws and contracting practices, which means that not all of these contracts cover the same matters. However, these contracts often set out the core exploration and mining rights that a government is granting to Rio Tinto. This includes:

  1. Where we are allowed to explore and/or mine
  2. What minerals, and how long we are allowed to explore for and/or mine them
  3. How we are required to leave the area when our exploration or mining activities are finished (what we normally refer to as “closure”)

The contracts may grant Rio Tinto rights such as rail or port access, or rights and obligations to build such infrastructure. For some projects, they address the taxation arrangements applicable to the project and clarify how laws relating to the environment or community contributions apply. They may also set out requirements for ownership of the interests or for transfers of ownership, as well as cover matters such as how the parties will resolve any disputes.

Beneficial ownership

The EITI defines “beneficial ownership” in respect of a company to mean “the natural person(s) who directly or indirectly ultimately owns or controls the corporate entity” – essentially the “real” owners of a project. Regarding the disclosure of the beneficial owners of publicly listed companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries, the EITI requires disclosure of the name of the stock exchange and a link to the filings where they are listed. This is to facilitate public access to a company’s beneficial ownership information.

The identity of the beneficial or real owners of the companies that have rights to extract or process minerals can be hidden by a chain of difficult to identify and/or unaccountable corporate entities. This can in turn hide problems including corruption and tax evasion.

To promote transparency through the disclosure of beneficial ownership information, we provide information on our substantial beneficial owners in this table.

We are also party to various commercial arrangements across our operations and other activities, including joint ventures. Consistent with the voluntary and additional commitments regarding joint venture party information in our Transparency Statement, we provide information on the names, interests, corporation type and domicile of our joint ventures and other jointly-owned entities, and of our partners, in this table.

To facilitate greater access to our ownership information, stakeholders can also download the above information in machine-readable format.

Beneficial Ownership
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148 KB
Beneficial Ownership - Machine Readable
XLSX
12 KB
Joint Venture Beneficial Ownership
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302 KB
Joint Venture Beneficial Ownership - Machine Readable
XLSX
18 KB

Political engagement and participation in industry associations

We do not favour any political party, group or individual, or involve ourselves in party political matters. We prohibit the use of funds to support political candidates or parties. Our business integrity procedure includes strict guidelines for dealing with current and former government officials and politicians, and they cannot be appointed to senior employee positions or engaged as consultants, in certain circumstances, without the approval of executive management and our Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer.

We regularly engage with governments and share information and our experiences on issues that affect our operations and our industry. 

We join industry associations where membership provides value to our business, investors and other stakeholders. As part of our Industry association disclosure, we outline the principles that guide our participation and the way we engage, as well as a list of the top 5 associations by membership fees paid. We also track and disclose how we engage on climate policy issues, disclosing when the policies and advocacy positions adopted by industry associations differ materially from ours.

In the United States, in accordance with the United States Federal Election Campaign Act, we provide administrative support for the Rio Tinto America Political Action Committee (PAC), which was created in 1990 and encourages voluntary employee participation in the political process. All Rio Tinto America PAC employee contributions are reviewed for compliance with federal and state law and are publicly reported in accordance with US election laws.

We do not offer, pay or accept bribes, no matter where we operate, no matter what the situation is, and no matter who is involved. Nor do we allow our agents or intermediaries to do so. We also have strict guidelines on giving and receiving benefits. 

Working with civil society organisations

We value a diversity of thoughts and ideas, and are open to conversations that can help us improve the way we run our business, including listening to concerns. Our statement on the role of civil society organisations outlines our approach to engaging with civil society organisations and other human rights defenders.

Role of Civil Society Organisations
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77 KB

Data privacy

Being open about the “what, why, where and who it is shared with” around personal data and raising stakeholders’ awareness of this issue helps build trust in our business – and in how we handle people’s data.

We take people’s right to data privacy very seriously. We have strict privacy statements in place across our business globally, and raise awareness about data privacy rights as part of our Ethics and Compliance training. Our global data privacy program reflects the EU General Data Protection Regulation and reforms in Australia and Canada.

Integrity and our value chain

We conduct due diligence in our value chain to examine integrity and modern slavery performance. We are working to improve this process and to exercise positive influence in our value chain – from our suppliers all the way to our customers. We also understand that people want to know how we are managing risks and publish an annual modern slavery statement in line with reporting requirements in the UK and Australia.

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Sustainability reporting

We have a responsibility to extract the full value from the minerals and materials we produce in the safest and most sustainable way possible.

Related downloads

The Way We Work
PDF
1.69 MB
Business Integrity Standard
PDF
406 KB
Supplier Code of Conduct
PDF
26.15 MB
Human Rights Policy
PDF
176 KB
Guidelines for Participation in Industry Associations
PDF
167 KB

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