{"id":46770,"date":"2026-05-23T17:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/46770\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T17:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:45:42","slug":"rio-tinto-doubles-down-on-cost-cutting-leans-into-copper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/46770\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto doubles down on cost-cutting, leans into copper"},"content":{"rendered":"

At\u00a0its first AGM since the collapse of its proposed\u00a0$300 billion\u00a0Glencore merger in February, Rio Tinto reaffirmed its cost-cutting focus, pointing to opportunities in energy transition metals such as copper and lithium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking at the miner\u2019s annual general meeting (AGM) this week, new CEO Simon Trott reiterated plans announced at the company\u2019s capital markets day in December and signalled further commitments ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trott, who succeeded Jakob Stausholm last July, said the US$650 million ($895 million) in savings flagged late last year had been fully delivered \u201cas promised, with substantially more on the way\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he did not detail the sources, the savings are understood to include job cuts. Trott did not confirm how many roles are at risk or where they would\u00a0fall but\u00a0said the\u00a0changes\u00a0would span all operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He did, however, say that the savings include a target of US$5 billion\u00a0to US$10 billion\u00a0in cash to be released through asset sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Held in Perth and simultaneously in London via video link, the meeting was the first since Rio Tinto\u2019s proposed mega-merger with Swiss company Glencore\u00a0collapsed in February<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The now-abandoned deal was the largest in the current copper M&A wave, drawing widespread attention as it would have enabled Rio to expand its copper portfolio and\u00a0capitalise\u00a0on surging demand for the metal,\u00a0fuelled\u00a0by the energy transition and the AI boom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If completed, it\u00a0also would\u00a0have created the world\u2019s largest mining company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked about the failed deal, Trott cited an inability to add value, while pointing to \u201cgood progress\u201d on the capital markets day plan as the better path.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The meeting also follows the publication of full-year results from Rio and rival BHP earlier this year<\/a>, which highlighted a stark contrast in their copper strategies, with BHP\u2019s early push into the metal making it its largest earnings driver for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite Rio lifting copper-equivalent production by 8 per cent in 2025, its full-year profit after tax still fell 14 per cent to US$9.97 billion\u00a0($14.1 billion), its weakest result in five years. The results highlighted challenges for the miner\u2019s main export, iron ore, where prices fell 6 per cent over the year amid\u00a0China\u2019s steel production cuts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Trott was keen to highlight the steel-making material, where Rio is Australia\u2019s largest exporter, while arguing it is also \u201cwell positioned\u201d to\u00a0benefit\u00a0from rising global demand for copper,\u00a0lithium\u00a0and\u00a0aluminium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0operate\u00a0the world\u2019s leading iron ore business \u2013 combining unparalleled scale in the Pilbara, an integrated system in Canada, and high-grade growth from\u00a0Simandou.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn copper, we are a leading low-cost producer at scale. In\u00a0aluminium\u00a0we are the largest integrated producer in the Western World. While in lithium, we are building a leading position globally, as a tier-one producer, with a strong pipeline of opportunities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Discussing expansion plans, Trott also pointed to the near\u00a0$20 billion\u00a0program for new Pilbara iron ore mines,\u00a0plants\u00a0and equipment by 2028, as existing mines age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond all this, we have a strong pipeline of opportunities to extend growth well\u00a0into the 2030s,\u00a0particularly in\u00a0copper. Including Resolution in Arizona, our Nuton leaching ventures and projects like Nuevo Cobre in Chile,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also,\u00a0during the meeting, Trott suggested that the miner plans to\u00a0decarbonise\u00a0the business, arguing the move \u201cmakes good commercial sense\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rio chair Dominic Barton acknowledged that the miner\u00a0remains\u00a0heavily reliant on natural gas for its operations in the medium\u00a0term but\u00a0said rising fossil fuel prices make\u00a0decarbonisation\u00a0an imperative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iran war is just putting a magnifying glass on or around that. And so, electrification and fuel switching, underpinned by renewable electricity, is something that we want to drive towards,\u201d Barton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CEO\u2019s address also opened with a reference to three fatalities at the miner\u2019s sites since its last meeting, as he vowed to improve safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur colleagues\u2019 deaths show we are not where we need to\u00a0be on safety, which is the foundation of our business. As a leadership team, we are focused on understanding what happened, learning the lessons and being clear about what must change,\u201d Trott said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At\u00a0its first AGM since the collapse of its proposed\u00a0$300 billion\u00a0Glencore merger in February, Rio Tinto reaffirmed its cost-cutting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20718],"tags":[23452,21244,23453,12991],"class_list":["post-46770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rio-tinto","tag-australian-equities","tag-glencore","tag-resources","tag-rio-tinto"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116625140890626143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}