Rio Tinto Chief Executive Joins Prime Minister of Australia for Historic White House Visit

Rio Tinto Chief Executive J-S Jacques today joined Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with a delegation of business leaders on his historic visit to Washington, D.C., for bilateral discussions to celebrate “100 Years of Mateship” between the two countries.

J-S said, “Rio Tinto has a significant presence in both Australia and the United States and I am pleased to help celebrate the long tradition of ‘mateship’ between the countries. This visit is a valuable opportunity to focus on the challenges and opportunities shared by Australia and the United States. With their deep wealth in natural resources, both countries stand to benefit from providing competitive environments that attract investment, enhance fair trade and create broad economic growth.”

The United States is home to more than 3,200 Rio Tinto employees working at operations in Utah, Arizona and California, and 20 percent of the company’s shares are owned in the U.S. It is the top market for many of Rio Tinto’s products, including copper, diamonds and industrial minerals. Rio Tinto is the largest supplier of aluminium to the United States from its low carbon operations in Canada. Our Boron mine in California recently celebrated its 145^th anniversary of supplying essential materials to customers around the world.

Rio Tinto is continuing to invest in the United States, recently approving an additional $368 million investment (Rio Tinto share 55 percent or $202 million) to advance the Resolution Copper project in Arizona.

J-S said, “We are committed to a strong future in the United States through our existing operations and new projects like Resolution, one of the most significant and valuable undeveloped copper deposits in the world. The project partners have already invested over $1.3 billion in infrastructure, underground rock studies and permitting. The newly approved funding underscores Rio Tinto’s commitment to a project that is one of the largest private sector investments currently in the U.S. permitting process. The passage of tax reform in the United States is helping to make the Resolution project more attractive for investment capital.”

J-S also highlighted in his meetings with U.S. and Australian officials that Rio Tinto is strengthening its commercial presence in the United States by opening a sales and marketing office in Chicago, Illinois, later this year.

J-S said, “The office will bring Rio Tinto closer than ever to its U.S. customers and ensure stronger connections. This will allow our sales and marketing teams to be more agile, aligned and adaptable to opportunities and challenges in the North America market.”

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180223005567/en/

Rio Tinto chief executive joins Australian Prime Minister to celebrate 100 Years of Mateship

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