Rio Tinto
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This article is part of the Mining and Metals project of Spinwatch |
Rio Tinto is a multinational mining and resources group founded originally in 1873. The group is one of the world's largest mining companies, with a pre-tax profit of approximately US$10.2 billion in 2006 on consolidated turnover of $25.4 billion. It is the largest coal mining company in the world.[1]
Since 1995, Rio Tinto has been a dual-listed company. Rio Tinto Limited, formerly known as CRA, is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, with Rio Tinto plc (formerly RTZ) listed on the London Stock Exchange as well as New York Stock Exchange (under ticker RTP). The two companies are managed as a single economic unit by a unified board, with a share in either company entitling the owner to the same voting rights and dividend payouts. RTZ shareholders made up 76.7 percent of the new unified entity, which is primarily managed from London. Its current chief executive is Tom Albanese and the company board is chaired by Paul Skinner.
See Corporate Watch's detailed pages on Rio Tinto, including Corporate Crimes and Influence and Lobbying
Contents
History
The origins of Rio Tinto (Spanish for [Dark Red River) are in southern Spain, at the site of an ancient mine [2] which supplied the Phoenicians, Ancient Greeks, Carthaginians and the Roman Empire. In 1873 N M Rothschild & Sons of London and de Rothschild Frères of Paris joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish government's money-losing Rio Tinto mines. The new owners restructured the company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30 percent. Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner served as chairmen for a period before World War One.
In 1962 the (British) Rio Tinto Company acquired a majority stake in Consolidated Zinc, an Australian company, and was renamed Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation (RTZ). The Australian company was renamed Conzinc Riotinto of Australia (CRA) but retained a separate corporate identity, with an increasing proportion of its shares being held by the Australian public. The current dual listed company structure was created in 1995.
People
Directors
Accessed March 2008:
Chairman and executive directors [3]
- Paul Skinner - Chairman, London
- Tom Albanese - Chief executive, London
- Guy Elliott - Finance director, London
- Dick Evans (Australia) - Executive director & Chief executive, Rio Tinto Alcan, Montreal
- Andrew Mackenzie - Chief Executive Diamonds and Minerals with Rio Tinto plc (since 2004). Mackenzie also serves as Non-executive Director with energy company Centrica, is a Trustee with think tank Demos (where he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees between 2005 to 2007) and Group Executive and Chief Executive Non Ferrous at BHP Billiton. He previously served 22 years with BP plc (in a variety of senior technical and engineering positions before becoming Group Vice President of BP Petrochemicals)[4]
Non executive directors [5]
- Sir David Clementi
- Vivienne Cox
- Sir Rod Eddington
- Michael Fitzpatrick (Australia)
- Yves Fortier
- Richard Goodmanson
- Andrew Gould
- Lord Kerr of Kinlochard
- David Mayhew
- Richard Sykes
- Paul Tellier
Affiliations
PR and Lobbying
people
- Julian Pettifer, environmentalist journalist made PR film and praised RTZ
Resources
Notes
- ↑ BLCP Coal-fired Power Plant - The Climate Killer, Greenpeace, accessdate=2008-02-27
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Chairman and executive directors, Rio Tinto, accessed March 7, 2008.
- ↑ Centrica Management Accessed 26th August 2008
- ↑ Non executive directors, Rio Tinto, accessed March 7, 2008.
