Business overview
Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) comprises wholly owned subsidiaries and joint venture initiatives. We own and manage mining and processing operations located in North America, South America and Australia, with development projects located in Africa and India.
The business maintains sales offices in Asia and Europe. Rio Tinto Iron Ore's corporate headquarters is located in Perth, Western Australia.
In 2007, RTIO accounted for 13 per cent of Rio Tinto's operating assets and 26 per cent of the Group's gross sales revenue. The Iron Ore group accounted for 36 per cent of underlying earnings.
Our global operations:
Pilbara operations
With a network of 11 mines, three shipping terminals and the largest privately owned heavy freight railway in Australia, the Pilbara operations produce more than 163 million tonnes of iron ore annually and are growing towards an annual production rate of 220 million tonnes.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore's Pilbara operations are run by Pilbara Iron. As a world-class asset manager, Pilbara Iron operates and maintains all mining, rail, port and power facilities on behalf of the asset owners, Hamersley Iron and Robe River.
Hamersley Iron is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto. Hamersley's Pilbara assets include eight mines, including two mines in joint venture with members of the Chinese steel industry, 630 kilometres of railway and port and infrastructure located in Dampier.
Robe River Iron Associates is an unincorporated joint venture in which Mitsui (33 per cent), Nippon Steel (10.5 per cent) and Sumitomo Metal Industries (3.5 per cent) also have interests. Robe's assets include two mines, 470 kilometres of railway and port and infrastructure located in Cape Lambert.
The Hope Downs joint venture between Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited will see the development and first production of the deposit in early 2008. Stage one will have an annual capacity of 22 million tonnes. At the completion of stage two the annual capacity of the mine will be 30 million tonnes.
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Expansion Projects
Expansion Projects, a business unit of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, manages the portfolio of major expansion activities and studies.
Expansion Projects' role is to take a project from conceptual level, through pre-feasibility and feasibility phases and upon approval, construct and commission the project.
Expansion Projects' works closely with RTIO operations, but is managed independently to minimise the impact on operations during project study and implementation phases of expansion.
The RTIO growth strategy in the Pilbara has seen approximately US$7 billion committed to port, rail, power and mine assets since 2003, resulting in a world class, integrated iron ore network.
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Labrador City and Sept-Îles
The Iron Ore Company of Canada has a head office in Montreal, Québec and operates a mine, concentrator and a pelletizing plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as port facilities located in Sept-Îles, Quebec. The business operates a 418-kilometre rail network that links the mine to the port.
The RTIO growth strategy will see Canadian operations expand production capacity to 18.4 million tonnes by mid-2008. A feasibility study will assess further expansion to 21 million tonnes annual capacity.
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Corumbá
Rio Tinto Iron Ore's Corumbá operations produce about two million tonnes of lump iron ore annually. Located in western Brazil, ore from the operations is barged along the Paraguay River for export to South American and European customers.
Feasibility studies are currently underway for staged expansion to 15 million tonnes per annum.
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Simandou, Guinea
The Simandou project in eastern Guinea, west Africa, is a Rio Tinto greenfields discovery with potentially significant resources of high grade iron ore. Rio Tinto Iron Ore has been exploring and evaluating the iron ore potential of Simandou since 1997. A pre-feasibility study is currently underway assessing the mining and infrastructure options for the project, including mine development, rail system and deep water port south of Conakry.
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Orissa, India
Orissa is one of the key iron ore regions of the world. Rio Tinto Iron Ore has a joint venture partnership with state-owned Orissa Mining Company. The project will focus on meeting domestic demand for iron ore.
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Kwinana
Rio Tinto Iron Ore operates the world's first commercial HIsmelt® plant in Kwinana, Western Australia. HIsmelt is a revolutionary direct smelting technology which smelts iron ore fines and non-coking coal to produce a premium grade iron product.
The process is more environmentally friendly, removing the need for coke ovens and sinter plants used in traditional ironmaking. It is a new source of low cost iron feed stock for electric arc furnaces.
The Kwinana HIsmelt plant is owned by Rio Tinto (60 per cent), Nucor Corporation (25 per cent), Mitsubishi Corporation (10 per cent) and Shougang Corporation (5 per cent). Rio Tinto operates the Kwinana facility on behalf of the joint venture.
The plant is midway through a three-year ramp-up to its planned capacity of 800,000 tonnes per annum of pig iron.
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