Rio Tinto IOC recognized with Towards Sustainable Mining Environmental Excellence Award

Rio Tinto will invest A$8 million over five years in a partnership with Western Australia's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) on a new project to enhance conservation land management and support Traditional Owner ranger programs in Karijini and Millstream Chichester National Parks.

The Pilbara Conservation Project will protect areas of high conservation value and integrate Traditional Owners' knowledge of the land into conservation land management. This includes weed management, feral animal control and bushfire management at Karijini, Millstream Chichester and other high conservation value Pilbara sites, through implementation of the Pilbara Conservation Strategy.

Rio Tinto will invest US$143 million (A$215 million) to develop a research and development facility in Western Australia to further assess the effectiveness of its low-carbon ironmaking process, BioIron ^TM , to support decarbonising the global steel value chain.

The development of the BioIron Research and Development Facility in the Rockingham Strategic Industrial Area, south of Perth, follows successful trials of the innovative ironmaking process in a small-scale pilot plant in Germany.

New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) has signed 20-year electricity arrangements that secure the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter to continue competitively producing high-purity, low-carbon metal, backed by a diversified mix of renewable electricity from New Zealand's South Island.

NZAS, which owns and operates Tiwai Point, has signed contracts with electricity generators Meridian Energy, Contact Energy and Mercury NZ to set pricing for an aggregate of 572 megawatts (MW) of electricity to meet the smelter's full electricity needs.

In an industry first, Rio Tinto and BHP will collaborate on the testing of large battery-electric haul truck technology in the Pilbara, Western Australia, to accelerate the potential for its future deployment.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240526465039/en/  

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said: "We have been deeply affected by the loss of four Diavik colleagues and two airline crew members in a plane crash in January. This tragedy has strengthened our resolve to never be complacent about safety.

"We delivered stable operating results in the first quarter, including improvements at our bauxite and aluminium businesses, as we navigated seasonal challenges across our global operations. Our full year guidance is unchanged across all our products. We remained focused on growth in energy-transition materials, with the ramp-up at Oyu Tolgoi underground, the first full quarter of recycled aluminium production from Matalco and further progress at Simandou, our high grade iron ore project in Guinea.