Rio Tinto brings jobs to remote Aboriginal community of Nullagine

The remote Aboriginal community of Nullagine is holding a graduation ceremony today for 11 men and women who are starting work at Rio Tinto's Yandicoogina iron ore mine.

Rio Tinto with its partners Pundulmurra TAFE and Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation held a Work Start pre-employment program in Nullagine, 300km south east of Port Hedland.

The 12-week program has prepared residents to join a fly-in, fly-out commute to Yandicoogina mine from the small community.

The participants studied literacy, numeracy, occupational health and safety, time management, personal finance management, small machinery operation and other workplace skills.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore manager of Aboriginal employment, Camis Smith, said the whole town, with a population which fluctuated in the low hundreds, was excited about the 11 new jobs.

"We are having a graduation ceremony today in Nullagine and the community is excited about iron ore mining jobs coming to town," Mr Smith said.

"All of the residents and agencies working in Nullagine have helped us get to this stage, and we are confident of reaching our goal of more permanent, direct employment of Aboriginal people at our Yandi operations," he said.

Pundulmurra director Alan Scott said the Nullagine course had been extremely successful with 11 out of 12 participants completing the training.

"The resources industry, and Rio Tinto in particular who Pilbara TAFE has done a lot of partnerships with, is responsible for these positive outcomes for Aboriginal employment," Mr Scott said.

"The Nullagine program is a success because it has the backing of strong partners, and with Rio Tinto behind the course there are guaranteed jobs for Aboriginal people at the end of it."

The Work Start program was created by Rio Tinto in conjunction with Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation as a pathway for the long term unemployed to enter the mining workforce.

Rio Tinto has held Work Start courses in the Pilbara towns of Tom Price, Paraburdoo Karratha, Roebourne and Onslow, and similar approaches have been adopted in Rio Tinto's regional fly-in, fly-out locations.

Last month Rio Tinto extended its West Kimberley fly-in, fly-out program to Aboriginal communities on the Dampier Peninsula north of Broome.

About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa

Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this announcement, including, without limitation, those regarding Rio Tinto's financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development plans and objectives relating to Rio Tinto's products, production forecasts and reserve and resource positions), are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Rio Tinto, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding Rio Tinto's present and future business strategies and the environment in which Rio Tinto will operate in the future. Among the important factors that could cause Rio Tinto's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others, levels of actual production during any period, levels of demand and market prices, the ability to produce and transport products profitably, the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on market prices and operating costs, operational problems, political uncertainty and economic conditions in relevant areas of the world, the actions of competitors, activities by governmental authorities such as changes in taxation or regulation and such other risk factors identified in Rio Tinto's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") or Form 6-Ks furnished to the SEC. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be construed in light of such risk factors and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Rio Tinto expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking (except as required by applicable law, the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Takeover Code"), the UK Listing Rules, the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority and the Listing Rules of the Australian Securities Exchange) to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Rio Tinto's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Rio Tinto brings jobs to remote Aboriginal community of Nullagine [PDF: 51 KB]