Rio Tinto and Komatsu scholarship programme at Tohoku University supports more than 330 students over ten years

MELBOURNE, Australia--In 2011 Rio Tinto established a scholarship programme at Tohoku University together with Komatsu Co. Ltd. to support students, who were impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.  The decade-long programme will come to a close at March this year.

The Komatsu-Rio Tinto Scholarship programme has successfully supported a total of 333 students, who went through major changes in their lives due to the unprecedented disaster. Rio Tinto has interacted with the scholarship recipients throughout the programme, receiving messages such as "I’m grateful to have enough time to study, without having to juggle part-time jobs" and "My parents are relieved that I have been able to continue my post-graduate studies".

Rio Tinto Japan Representative Director and President Bill Horie said, "Rio Tinto has a long-standing relationship with Japan. We created this scholarship in partnership with Komatsu out of our desire to support young people in the Tohoku region.  We are humbled and honoured that the scholarship has supported many students and their aspirations for the future.  We hope to see them aspire in their respective fields and contribute to their homeland and the world at large".

Rio Tinto will continue to support various initiatives that create the future.

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and New York Stock Exchange listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are iron ore, aluminium, copper, molybdenum, diamonds, gold, industrial minerals (borate, titanium dioxide and salt).  Activities span the world and are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe, and southern Africa.

About Rio Tinto and Japan

Japan is one of Rio Tinto’s most important and longstanding trading partners. Rio Tinto’s iron ore business was born on the back of Japanese investment and long-term offtake contracts with the Japanese steel mills in the 1960’s. Today Rio Tinto is the largest supplier of iron ore to Japan, shipping over 1.9 billion tonnes to date over the past nearly 50 years. Rio Tinto, as a group, is also one of the largest exporter of metals and minerals to Japan, supplying iron ore, aluminium, copper, molybdenum, diamonds and industrial minerals (borate, titanium dioxide and salt) to more than 250 customers. Japanese companies are important partners in Rio Tinto’s operations around the world, its global supply chain as well as in innovation.

Category: General