Expansion Projects

Rio Tinto's Iron Ore Expansion Projects manages the portfolio of major expansion projects and studies in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Our role is to take a project from conceptual level, through pre-feasibility and feasibility phases and, upon approval, take the project into construction and commissioning.

The Expansion Projects team operates closely with Rio Tinto's Pilbara iron ore operations, but is managed independently in order to minimise the impact on operations during project study and implementation phases of each project.

Since 2003, the Rio Tinto iron ore growth strategy in the Pilbara has seen approximately US$8 billion committed to port, rail, power and mine assets, resulting in a world class integrated iron ore network that has expanded to an annual capacity of 220 million tonnes, with advanced plans to expand further.

Current commitments include:

* All figures have been reported in US dollars to align with Rio Tinto group-wide reporting practice.
** Not managed by Expansion Projects

The feasibility study into expanding Pilbara capacity beyond 220 million tonnes per annum by 2012 was well advanced before the economic slowdown began in the third quarter of 2008.  We are tailoing the expected delivery of iron ore projects to the demand cycle and retain the flexibility to reinstate projects when fture economic conditions allow.