An Overview of The Rio Tinto Group

In The Beginning:

Rio Tinto, with more than 140 years of experience, has climbed up the world ladder and is now one of the most successful international mining companies since their operations began in 1873.Originating in Spain, by the river Rio Tinto, the mine had been in production long before the company had begun to work there. Passed down through the centuries, the mine was rich in useful minerals that were key parts of the technology that man has developed over the years. They started a rough cut diamond exchange to liquidate their diamond holdings as loose diamonds for sale became more and more popular. The company combined with several other European companies just after the Second World War in 1949. Afterwards, they began selling off the Spanish mine bit by bit, however retaining the name of the company. In 1956, Rio Tinto began to see the potential for mining in Australia with the discovery of large bauxite (aluminium base ore) deposits. They began to purchase shares from the Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Party Limited, or Comalco, which held the mineral site. Then, by the year 2000, the site as well as the shares were fully owned by Rio Tinto.

Evolution:

Over the time span between 1956 and 2000 however, many changes occurred, and several companies merged and separated with Rio Tinto. During these years, they began to intensify their focus on the mining industry more than any other aspect of their business. To view a diamond size chart they use when mining you can go to their website. Non-mining businesses that came with their partnerships were then slowly sold. Into the main Rio Tinto Group, several companies were eventually absorbed over time. More mining sites were invested in and development peaked until sometime in 1998 when a major mining incident occurred, causing the deaths of 10 employees. Ever since then Rio Tinto has taken extreme measures to keep their employees safe with their Zero Harm objective. Nothing as major as that phenomenon has occurred after that.

The Future:

Stepping into the future, Rio Tinto has made several milestone achievements throughout the first few years of the 21st century. They purchased many other promising sites after attaining the Comalco site. Rio Tinto had set their large scale project in motion spending roughly $4 Billion. Taking care of their operations in Africa, Rio Tinto in 2003 had developed an anti-HIV/AIDS strategy that was implemented in places where the disease was prominent. In 2004, they focused on the environmental effects of their type of business, and began developing environmentally friendly mining strategies. Developed by the industry in 2006 was an original and competent procedure for iron minerals. In the same year, they had also opened their first commercial plant in Perth. Expanding their horizons in 2007, they purchased Alcan Inc., one of the largest aluminium producers in Canada. Looking further into the future, Rio Tinto revealed their project of a self-sustaining mechanized super-mine called The Mine of The Future in 2008. The Mine of the Future is currently in the research and development phase with over 5 research centres worldwide working on the project.

With all of these projects Rio Tinto sticks to their ideology of making products that make modern life work.