Rio Tinto Company
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as |
ASX: RIO : : RIO |
| Industry | Metals and Mining |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Headquarters |
London, United Kingdom (Global headquarters & Rio Tinto Plc) Melbourne, Australia (Rio Tinto Ltd) |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Jan du Plessis, Chairman Jean-Sebastien Jacques, CEO |
| Products | Iron ore, Bauxite, Alumina, Aluminium, Copper, Molybdenum, Gold, Diamonds, Coal, Uranium, Titanium Dioxide, Borates, Salt, Talc |
| Revenue |
 US$ 34.781 billion (2016) |
 US$ 6.795 billion (2016) |
|
| Profit |
US$ 4.617 billion (2015) |
| Total assets |
US$ 89.263 billion (2016) |
|
Number of employees
|
55,000 (2016) |
| Subsidiaries | Rio Tinto Alcan |
| Website | www |
Rio Tinto is a British-Australian multinational and one of the world's largest metals and mining corporations. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government. Since then, the company has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions to place itself among the world leaders in the production of many commodities, including aluminium, iron ore, copper, uranium, coal, and diamonds. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, Rio Tinto also has significant operations in refining, particularly for refining bauxite and iron ore. The company has operations on six continents, but is mainly concentrated in Australia and Canada, and owns its mining operations through a complex web of wholly and partly owned subsidiaries. Rio Tinto has joint head offices in London (global and "plc") & Melbourne ("Limited" - Australia).
Rio Tinto Group is a dual-listed company traded on both the , where it is a component of the FTSE 100 Index, and the Australian Securities Exchange, where it is a component of the S&P/ASX 200 index.
Since antiquity, a site along the Rio Tinto, in the Andalusian Province of Huelva in Spain has been mined for copper, silver, gold, and other minerals. Around 3000 BC, Iberians and Tartessians began mining the site, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. After a period of abandonment, the mines were rediscovered in 1556 and the Spanish government began operating them once again in 1724.
However, Spain's mining operations there were inefficient, and the government itself was otherwise distracted by political and financial crises, leading the government to sell the mines in 1873 at a price later determined to be well below actual value. The purchasers of the mine were led by Hugh Matheson's Matheson and Company, which ultimately formed a syndicate consisting of Deutsche Bank (56% ownership), Matheson (24%), and the civil engineering firm Clark, Punchard and Company (20%). At an auction held by the Spanish government for sale of the mine on 14 February 1873, the group won with a bid GB£3,680,000 (ESP 92,800,000). The bid also specified that Spain permanently relinquish any right to claim royalties on the mine's production. Following purchase of the mine, the syndicate launched the Rio Tinto Company, registering it on 29 March 1873. At the end of the 1880s, control of the firm was passed to the Rothschild family, who greatly increased the scale of its mining operations.
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Wikipedia