Category Archives: Rio Tinto

Australia’s largest aluminium smelter Tomago ‘not commercially viable’ and facing closure, says Rio Tinto

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Consultation over future pathway with employees as smelter struggles with high power prices

Rio Tinto says it is contemplating ceasing operations at its New South Wales-based Tomago aluminium smelter at the end of its current electricity supply contract.

The Tomago aluminium smelter, Australia’s largest, had been struggling with high power prices. It had started a consultation process with employees on the potential future of its operations, but was yet to reach a decision and is weighing a possible closure.

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Cost of emissions from five major Australian resource companies more than $900bn, study finds

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US researchers link BHP, Rio Tinto, Santos, Whitehaven Coal and Woodside Energy to specific climate harms over three decades

Five of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel producers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in damages after a US research team developed a method to link individual companies to specific climate harms and put a dollar figure to the impact.

This is the result of a new peer-review study published in the journal Nature that sought to establish a method that would allow courts to quantify the economic loss caused by fossil fuel producers for one kind of climate impact – extreme heat.

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Rio Tinto investor urges mining giant to drop primary London listing

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Hedge fund with £197m stake leads push to prioritise Sydney exchange as FTSE 100 firm outlines ambitious copper production targets

An activist investor in Rio Tinto has demanded the miner scrap its primary London listing and focus on Australia, as the FTSE 100 firm outlined its long-term investment strategy.

Palliser Capital called on the metals and minerals firm to drop its “outdated” dual listing structure across the London and Sydney financial markets.

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Rio Tinto to buy US lithium producer Arcadium in $6.7bn deal

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Acquisition by Anglo-Australian miner comes despite global headwinds in electric car market

Rio Tinto is to buy the US company Arcadium Lithium for $6.7bn (£5.1bn), in a huge bet on the energy transition despite global headwinds in the electric car market.

The Anglo-Australian metals and mining company said it would pay $5.85 a share for the US-based lithium miner. That represents an almost 90% premium to Arcadium’s closing price of $3.08 a share on 3 October, the day before news of a potential deal emerged.

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Thousands of Serbians protest in Belgrade against lithium mine

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Controversial mining project is a political fault line in Balkan country over fears about environmental impacts

Thousands hit the streets in Serbia’s capital Belgrade Saturday to protest against the rebooting of a controversial lithium mine set to serve as a vital source to power Europe’s green energy transition.

Before the rally, two leading protest figures said they were briefly detained by security officials who warned that any moves to block roads during the protest would be viewed as illegal.

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Mining industry braces for multi-billion pound Anglo American bidding war

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Glencore understood to be considering takeover offer while BHP could move again after initial rejection

The global mining industry is braced for a multi-billion pound bidding war for Anglo American amid growing speculation that mining companies are preparing rival bids.

The Australian miner BHP is understood to have sent senior executives to Anglo’s base in South Africa to meet key company stakeholders after an initial offer of £31bn was rebuffed by Anglo’s board last week.

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Rio Tinto’s Madagascar mine may face lawsuit over pollution claims

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Mining company hit with accusation it contaminated waterways with harmful levels of uranium and lead

Rio Tinto is facing a likely lawsuit in an English court brought by the UK-based law firm Leigh Day on behalf of people living in villages near a mine in Madagascar.

In a letter of claim, a document that is an early step in a lawsuit, the villagers accuse Rio Tinto of contaminating the waterways and lakes that they use for domestic purposes with elevated and harmful levels of uranium and lead, which pose a serious risk to human health.

This story was published in partnership with The Intercept. The reporting for this investigation was supported by a grant from Journalists for Transparency, an initiative of Transparency International.

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Serious Fraud Office drops 10-year corruption inquiry into Kazakh miner ENRC

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UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigation

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.

The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to prosecute the company.

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Troy Johnston death: Indonesian man arrested after Australian Rio Tinto worker dies in Bali bar

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Perth man dead after altercation in South Kuta bar

An Indonesian man has been arrested and police say will be charged with murder after the death of an Australian man in a Bali bar.

Local media reported that on Wednesday night Perth man Troy Johnston, 40, was drinking at Uncle Benz cafe in South Kuta.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton to attend voice referendum working group meeting remotely

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Follow the day’s news live

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.

Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:

We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.

We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.

What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.

There’s no doubt that migrants have been key to the formation of modern Australia.

I think [migrants] should be recognised for their contribution to this country. And I think that’s fair enough, but that’s not minimising the Indigenous.

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Heavy industries in Australia’s regions could cut emissions by 80% and create a jobs bonanza, report says

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Business leaders and decarbonisation experts say a high level of collaboration and coordination is needed for transition

The regional powerhouses of Australia’s industrial economy could slash their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% and become centres for multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy, according to a report backed by some of the country’s biggest companies.

Bringing down emissions from producing iron, steel, aluminium, chemicals and liquefied natural gas is seen as one of the most challenging parts of Australia’s efforts to reach net zero.

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Juukan Gorge traditional owners sign agreement with Rio Tinto to co-manage WA mining land

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Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people will have say on future of mines on native title area, two years after heritage site was blown up

The traditional owners of Juukan Gorge have signed a preliminary agreement with Rio Tinto to co-manage land that is still being mined for iron ore.

The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people said the mining giant broke their trust with the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site, which was blown up by Rio Tinto in May 2020 in an effort to access more high-grade iron ore at its Brockman 4 mine.

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WA Aboriginal site near Rio Tinto mine more than 50,000 years old, new study reveals

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Mining giant funded latest excavation at Yirra, which yielded stone tools, charcoal and bone showing habitation during the last ice age

An Aboriginal sacred place located 65 metres from a land bridge used by Rio Tinto to haul iron ore is at least 50,000 years old, with new research finding evidence of occupation during the height of the last ice age.

The mining giant, which funded the latest excavation, has promised to ensure the site “is preserved for future generations”.

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Putin-linked Russian oligarchs with Australian assets escape Morrison government sanctions

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Transparency advocates ‘can’t make sense’ of decision to exclude resource industry figures from sanctions

The Morrison government is facing questions over why it has not included two Russian oligarchs, who have assets in Australia, among those it has imposed sanctions against over the invasion of Ukraine.

Oleg Deripaska, who has a stake in an alumina refinery in Gladstone run by Rio Tinto, and Viktor Vekselberg, who has an interest in a gas project in the Beetaloo Basin, were not among 41 oligarchs and family members Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade hit with sanctions on Monday.

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Rio Tinto lithium mine: thousands of protesters block roads across Serbia

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Crowds chanted slogans condemning government of Aleksandar Vučić, which backs planned Anglo-Australian $2.4bn mine

Thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads across Serbia on Saturday as anger swelled over a government-backed plan to allow mining company Rio Tinto to extract lithium.

In the capital, Belgrade, protesters swarmed a major highway and bridge linking the city to outlying suburbs as the crowd chanted anti-government slogans while some held signs criticising the mining project.

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Rio Tinto’s past casts a shadow over Serbia’s hopes of a lithium revolution

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People in the Jadar valley fear environmental catastrophe as Europe presses for self-sufficiency in battery technology

Photographs by Vladimir Zivojinovic

A battery sign, flashing dangerously low, appears superimposed over a view of the globe as seen from space. “Green technologies, electric cars, clean air – all of these depend on one of the most significant lithium deposits in the world, which is located right here in Jadar, Serbia,” a gravel-voiced narrator announces. “We completely understand your concerns about the environment. Rio Tinto is carrying out detailed analyses, so as to make all of us sure that we develop the Jadar project in line with the highest environmental, security and health standards.”

Beamed into the country’s living rooms on the public service channel RTS, the slick television ad, shown just after the evening news, finishes with images of reassuring scientists and a comforted young couple walking into the sunset: “Rio Tinto: Together we have the chance to save the planet.”

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Pat Dodson attacks ex-WA Aboriginal affairs minister for joining Rio Tinto board

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Dodson criticises ‘poor judgment’ but Ben Wyatt says move will pressure other companies to appoint Aboriginal people to boards

Labor senator Pat Dodson has launched a scathing attack on the former West Australian Aboriginal affairs minister, Ben Wyatt, for joining the board of mining giant Rio Tinto, saying it showed “poor judgment” and would “do nothing” to restore Rio’s reputation after the Juukan Gorge disaster.

Wyatt, a Yamatji man, was the Aboriginal affairs minister and treasurer in WA from 2017 to March this year when he retired from parliament.

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A year on from the Juukan Gorge destruction, Aboriginal sacred sites remain unprotected

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Rio Tinto’s reputation is in pieces, but the laws, policies and power imbalances that allowed the blast to happen remain largely unchanged

The Western Australian government has refused to commit to a moratorium on approving the destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites, despite the recommendation of a federal inquiry which found that the laws are “unfit for purpose”.

The recommendation was made by an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites at Juukan Gorge on 24 May 2020.

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Rio Tinto pledges to protect cultural heritage after Juukan Gorge disaster

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Chief executive Jakob Stausholm says he will make heritage protection be ‘felt in the hearts and minds’ of his employees

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has pledged to make protecting cultural heritage an issue which is “felt in the hearts and minds” of his employees in an effort to avoid another Juukan Gorge-style disaster.

The mining company on Tuesday announced it would publicly report to investors on its progress on improving cultural heritage systems and renewing trust with traditional owners, as it attempts to rebuild its shattered social capital.

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Rio Tinto addresses ‘hurt and devastation’ of Juukan Gorge blast as remedial works begin

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Traditional owners acknowledge mining company’s efforts in rebuilding relationship but say more needs to be done

High-level talks have been held between Rio Tinto and the traditional owners of the Juukan Gorge rock shelter in an attempt to repair the fractured relationship.

Rio blew up the 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia’s Pilbara region in May to extract $188m worth of high-grade iron ore, devastating the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.

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