REG - Rio Tinto - Strategy to strengthen, decarbonise and grow

Rio TintoAnnouncement

30/11/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221130:nRSd0506Ia&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0506I  Rio Tinto PLC  30 November 2022

 30 November 2022

Rio Tinto progresses strategy to strengthen, decarbonise and grow

Rio Tinto is today providing an update at its Investor Seminar on progress
against its long-term strategy to strengthen the business, grow in a
decarbonising world and continue to deliver attractive shareholder returns.

 

Updates will include Rio Tinto's market outlook, with the energy transition
expected to add as much as 25% in new demand above traditional sources on a
copper equivalent basis across the Group's key products by 2035. Rio Tinto is
targeting investment of up to $3 billion per year in growth to meet this
demand, including the Oyu Tolgoi copper, Rincon lithium and Simandou iron ore
projects.

 

There are now 30 deployments of the Rio Tinto Safe Production System (SPS)
across 16 sites. Roll-outs are ongoing to continuously improve safety, drive
employee satisfaction and lift operational performance across Rio Tinto's
global portfolio, delivering benefits such as up to 5 million tonnes of
production uplift expected at the Group's Pilbara iron ore assets in 2023.

 

Executives will outline projects underway to meet challenging decarbonisation
targets to halve Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030, on the road to net zero by
2050. Six large emissions abatement programmes are focused on renewable power,
process heat, diesel and the ELYSIS(TM) zero carbon aluminium smelting
technology to drive the transition to net zero by 2050, supported by
high-quality nature based solutions. Investments of around $7.5 billion are
expected between 2022 and 2030, including around $1.5 billion over the next
three years which will be back-end dated. Investments are being prioritised
and phased in the most logical way, with consideration for near-term work
around energy inputs and attractive economics. New long-term power contracts
will also be required for the aluminium business to meet targets. Incremental
operating expenditure on building new teams and energy efficiency initiatives
remains around $200 million per year, in addition to research and development
investment.

 

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said: "We are now creating real
momentum, to build a stronger Rio Tinto that is a platform for delivering
long-term value. From evolving our culture, to operational improvements, a
different approach on cultural heritage, and technology breakthroughs to
address climate change and a changing customer environment, we are seeing
early results that give us conviction we have the right objectives, the right
team, and the right strategy. This is all captured in our newly defined
purpose: finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.

 

"Meeting the incremental demand of the energy transition and ensuring local
supplies of critical minerals globally deepens our relevance in the world and
provides new opportunities. We are working hard to decarbonise our assets and
products, as we invest to grow in materials needed for the energy transition.

 

"The quality of our assets, resilience of cashflows and strength of our
balance sheet ensure we are well positioned to continue to invest with
discipline for the long term and deliver attractive returns to our
shareholders throughout the cycle."

 

Production guidance is being released for 2023. Pilbara iron ore shipments
(100% basis) of 320 to 335Mt are expected in 2023, with mid-term capacity
remaining at 345 to 360Mt.

 

 Production guidance - Rio Tinto share, unless otherwise stated  2022           2023
 Pilbara iron ore (shipments, 100% basis) (Mt)                   320 to 335(1)  320 to 335(2)
 Bauxite (Mt)                                                    54 to 57       54 to 57
 Alumina (Mt)                                                    7.6 to 7.8     7.7 to 8.0
 Aluminium (Mt)                                                  3.0 to 3.1     3.1 to 3.3
 Mined copper (kt)                                               500 to 575     550 to 600
 Refined copper (kt)                                             190 to 220     180 to 210
 Diamonds (M carats)                                             4.5 to 5.0     3.0 to 3.8
 Titanium dioxide slag (Mt)                                      1.1 to 1.4     1.1 to 1.4
 IOC(3) iron ore pellets and concentrate (Mt)                    10.0 to 11.0   10.5 to 11.5
 Boric oxide equivalent (Mt)                                     ~0.5           ~0.5

(1) At the low end of the range.

(2) Pilbara shipments guidance remains subject to risks around commissioning
and ramp-up of new mines and management of cultural heritage.

(3)Iron Ore Company of Canada.

 

 Unit cost guidance            2023(1)
 Pilbara iron ore (US$/tonne)  $21.0 - $22.5
 Copper C1 (US cents/lb)       160 - 180

(1) FY23 guidance is based on A$:US$ exchange rate of 0.70 and excludes
COVID-19 response costs.

 

The full presentations will be made available at www.riotinto.com
(http://www.riotinto.com) .

 

 

 

 Contacts  Please direct all enquiries to media.enquiries@riotinto.com

 

 Media Relations, UK         Media Relations, Australia

 Matthew Klar                Matt Chambers

 M+ 44 7796 630 637          M +61 433 525 739

 David Outhwaite             Jesse Riseborough

 M +44 7787 597 493          M +61 436 653 412

 Media Relations, Americas

 Simon Letendre

M +1 514 796 4973

Malika Cherry

M +1 418 592 7293

 Investor Relations, UK

                             Investor Relations, Australia

 Menno Sanderse

 M +44 7825 195 178          Tom Gallop

M +61 439 353 948

Amar Jambaa
 David Ovington

                           M +61 472 865 948
 M +44 7920 010 978

 Clare Peever

 M +44 7788 967 877

 Rio Tinto plc               Rio Tinto Limited

 6 St James's Square         Level 43, 120 Collins Street

London SW1Y 4AD

United Kingdom             Melbourne 3000

 T +44 20 7781 2000          Australia

Registered in England

 No. 719885

                             T +61 3 9283 3333

                             Registered in Australia

                             ABN 96 004 458 404

This announcement is authorised for release to the market by Steve Allen, Rio
Tinto's Group Company Secretary.

 

riotinto.com

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCFDISISEESEIF