Tragically, in 2024, Morlaye Camara, an employee from a contracting company died following an incident at Simandou’s SimFer port site. Our deepest condolences go to everyone affected.

The safety of our people is always our number one priority, and this tragedy has taught us lessons we must take on board, everywhere we work. Rio Tinto leaders worked with our partners to conduct a thorough investigation at the port site to understand what led to the event. We have shared the findings and recommendations with our partners and leaders across our company, so they can reflect on how these relate to their own teams and workplaces, and can act upon what we have learned.

As we deliver today and for the future, we acknowledge the risks and challenges of the environments we are working in, and are committed to adapting and improving our approach for specific contexts. We will continue taking the steps needed to achieve high standards of health and safety across all our projects and operations – sharing with, and learning from, our colleagues and partners, as we grow.

However, taking parental leave may be met with mixed feelings, and can be challenging. One of the 26 recommendations of the Everyday Respect Report was to address structural barriers to leadership diversity, which included reviewing our people’s experience in accessing the parental leave we offer. From this, in 2024 we published guidance materials to better support both employees and their leaders, before, during and after parental leave, to help make the transitions positive. The guidance reflects the lived experience of our people, and is designed to help employees and leaders navigate the to-dos, the logistics and the overall journey together. It is one of the ways we are working to remove barriers to inclusion and bring our Everyday Respect priorities to life, and create an environment where everyone, everywhere, feels safe, respected and empowered to have a good day, every day.

The partnership will help us provide a broader range of high-quality and low-carbon, primary, recycled, and blended aluminium products, at a time when customers are looking for solutions to lower their carbon footprint.

This move follows other recent investments in our aluminium business in North America, including $1.1 billion to expand the AP60 smelter equipped with low-carbon technology, $29 million to establish a recycling facility at Arvida, C$135 million to install a new alumina conveyor at Kitimat, and $188 million to increase our capacity to cast value-added products at the Alma smelter.