Rio Tinto bets on bigger role for copper in green energy shift
By Nick Toscano
July 31, 2024 — 9.35am
Rio Tinto, one of the largest Australian miners, has flagged it is open to potentially large-scale takeover opportunities to boost its supplies of copper and capitalise on expectations of soaring demand for the metal in the global energy transition.
The resources giant, which earns most of its money from digging up the steel-making ingredient iron ore in Western Australia and selling it to China, on Wednesday said it was aiming to grow annual copper production over the next five years from existing projects, including its jointly owned Oyu Tolgoi development in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
Rio has posted $US5.8 billion net profit for the half-year as iron ore prices start trending down.
Rio has posted $US5.8 billion net profit for the half-year as iron ore prices start trending down. Bloomberg
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm also confirmed that the Anglo-Australian miner was constantly the lookout for other opportunities through which its exposure to the red metal could “grow further”.
“We are the world’s largest producer of iron ore, we are the Western world’s largest producer of aluminum, we are the world’s largest producer of titanium slag, and we are only the top-five [or] top-10 producer of copper,” Stausholm said.
“You can see that as a negative. I see it as a positive. It’s an area where we can grow and where we are growing.”