Rio Tinto initiative progresses to decarbonise its business and value chains

Stressing on Rio Tinto Group’s continuous decarbonisation and safety efforts, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm elaborated on the steps taken by Rio Tinto to continue to deliver its strategy with decarbonisation at all its operation centres.
In its Q3 production announcement in a press release dated 7 October 2022, Rio Tinto announced that a partnership was established with the Government of Canada to invest up to C$737 million over eight years to decarbonise the Rio Tinto Fer et Titane operations in Québec, and to position the business as a centre of excellence for critical minerals processing.
Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto Chief Executive said: “We are taking action to transform our culture and rebuild trust, implementing the recommendations of the Everyday Respect report and publishing our second progress report on our Communities and Social Performance practices, which includes increased feedback from Traditional Owner groups, with responses from seven groups compared to four in 2021.”
“Rio Tinto’s production improved versus the prior quarter across most of our sites, particularly where we have implemented the Rio Tinto Safe Production System (RTSPS). In the last quarter we exceeded four years without a fatality on a managed site. Our all-injury frequency rate of 0.43 has deteriorated from the third quarter of 2021 (0.40), and from the prior quarter (0.36). We continue to prioritise the safety, health and wellbeing of our workforce and communities where we operate.
This quarter marked 12 months since we began the roll-out of the RTSPS. We now have 22 deployments at 13 sites and 63 rapid improvement projects (Kaizens) completed or in progress. We are on track to meet our 2022 target of 30 deployments at 15 sites,” he added.
Rio Tinto entered into additional partnerships and progressed initiatives to decarbonise its business and value chains, including entering strategic partnerships with Volvo Group and Ford Motor Company in the third quarter. The company also joined the First Movers Coalition, a global initiative to help commercialise zero-carbon technologies by harnessing purchasing power and supply chains.
Also, underground battery electric vehicles are currently being trialled at Kennecott to improve employee health and safety, increase productivity and reduce carbon emissions from future underground mining fleets.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished