May 30 2008
Rio Tinto outlines expansion plans as world mineral demand expected to double by 2022
Rio Tinto will today tell investors that it is exceptionally well-placed to take advantage of an expected doubling of world demand for its metals and minerals by 2022. The Group will give details of expansion plans for existing operations and highlight its strong project pipeline.
Chief executive Tom Albanese and his senior management team will provide detail on resource upgrades, as well as new information on the Group's project pipeline at a 'value and growth' seminar in London. The seminar will be webcast - see details below.
Chief financial officer Guy Elliott will set out the internal valuation methods that Rio Tinto employs for its future growth options.
Rio Tinto has also announced significant new resources, across different ore bodies, which will underpin the Group's superior trajectory for long term growth:
- Simandou project in Guinea announced new resources of 2.25 billion tonnes of iron ore
- La Granja project in Peru announced 2.8 billion tonnes of inferred copper resources at 0.51 per cent copper and 0.1 per cent zinc
- Resolution project in Arizona, USA, announced 1.3 billion tonnes of inferred resources containing 1.51 per cent copper and 0.04 per cent molybdenum
Sulawesi Nickel project yesterday announced 162 million tonnes lateritic nickel inferred resource with potential for further mineralisation through further exploration
- In addition, Kennecott Utah Copper last week announced an upgrade of resources to 637 million tonnes at 0.48 per cent copper at its Bingham Canyon mine
In his presentation, Tom Albanese will say that Rio Tinto's compound annual production growth is expected to be 8.6 per cent through to 2015 and that world class growth options in place beyond this time are very valuable, especially in strong markets:
"Demand growth remains strong and, combined with supply side constraints, this means there has never been a time at which our options for expansion have been so valuable. With world demand for our products set to double by 2022, we have the reserves and resources in place to keep pace with the market.
"Rio Tinto has a clear roadmap to deliver industry leading growth over the next few years, but this is just the beginning. Rio Tinto will continue to unlock value from tier one assets that are unrivalled in the sector."
The seminar will outline the role of Rio Tinto's Exploration team in discovering and developing tier one prospects that offer options for continued growth. Eric Finlayson, head of Exploration, will present on Rio Tinto's disciplined focus on large, long life deposits which are profitable in all phases of the price cycle.
He will provide details of a pipeline of greenfield opportunities including nickel in Minnesota, coking coal in Mongolia and western Canada, diamonds in India, potash in Saskatchewan and lithium in Serbia. He will also talk about brownfield coking coal and uranium opportunities.