Rio Tinto’s business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Activities span the world and are strongly represented in Australia and New Zealand and other parts of the world such as North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and southern Africa. As pioneers in mining and metals, we produce materials essential to human progress. We aim to create sustainable value, in partnership with our stakeholders.
Japan is one of our most important and longstanding partners. Our iron ore business was born on the back of Japanese investment and long-term offtake contracts with the Japanese steel mills in the 1960’s. Today we are the largest supplier of iron ore to Japan, shipping over 1.9 billion tonnes to date over 50 years.