Progressing our 4 objectives

Environment

• We are turning strategy into action on decarbonisation, and this year committed to carbon abatement projects representing more than 3 million tonnes of annual emissions
• We shared our support for the ICMM’s Nature Position Statement, which sets out ICMM members’ approach to contributing to a nature-positive future
• We laid the foundation for our nature strategy and target program, through consultations with stakeholders

Social

• We published the findings of an independent, external Progress Review on our work to deliver sustained workplace cultural change. It assessed our progress in the 2 years since we published the Everyday Respect Report, and identified areas that require our continued effort
• We strengthened our approach to psychosocial risk management, running more risk assessments, and helping leaders identify hazards and implement controls
• We developed a 3-year human rights learning strategy and a global learning program to support training for our people in higher-risk human rights roles
• We launched Local Voices, our global community perception monitoring program, to help inform our planning and decision making

Governance

• We launched new annual Code of Conduct training
• We piloted a new Third-Party Risk Management system

Project development 

• We made significant progress on the mine, rail and port infrastructure for the Simandou project in Guinea, in collaboration with our joint venture partners
• We completed breakthroughs of Shafts 3 and 4 at Oyu Tolgoi, key to maximising the copper mine’s underground potential
• We advanced 5 replacement iron ore mine projects in the Pilbara. At Western Range, our newest mine in the Pilbara, first ore is on plan for the first half of 2025 and we are now operating our Autonomous Haulage System trucks. Construction began on our seawater desalination plant, which will support future water supply for our coastal operations and communities in the Pilbara
• Construction began on the expansion of the AP Technology™ AP60 aluminium smelter in Quebec. AP60 smelting technology is among the most efficient and lowest-carbon technology currently available at commercial scale
• The Rincon starter plant in Argentina delivered its first lithium

Pipeline projects

• We approved the expansion of the Rincon lithium project in Argentina to 60,000 tonnes per year
• We continued to advance a range of other studies, including Winu and Resolution

Exploration

• We made strong progress on our advanced Exploration projects, including Kamiesburg (mineral sands), Texas (potash) and Chiri (diamonds)
• Our Nuevo Cobre project in Chile’s Atacama region, a joint venture with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco), has delivered encouraging early results

Innovation

• We established the Rio Tinto Innovation team to accelerate our innovation efforts, help shape our future business, and make our assets safer, more efficient and more sustainable. Our Group-wide approach enables us to focus on the highest impact projects, to innovate across and between product groups, functions and geographies, and to work with external partners to bring the outside world in.