rio tinto limited type public traded as asx rio lse rio nyse rio industry metals and mining founded 1873 ; 143 years ago 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 1 ceo products iron ore bauxite alumina aluminium copper molybdenum gold diamonds coal uranium titanium dioxide borates salt talc revenue us 34.829 billion 2015 2 operating income us 3.615 billion 2015 2 profit us 1.719 billion 2015 2 number of employees 55 000 2016 3 subsidiaries rio tinto alcan website www.riotinto.com rio tinto headquarters in melbourne australia registered office 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 . 4 although primarily focused on extraction of minerals rio tinto also has significant operations in refining particularly for refining bauxite and iron ore . 5 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 . 6 rio tinto has joint head offices in london global and plc & melbourne limited australia . 7 8 rio tinto group is a dual listed company traded on both the london stock exchange where it is a component of the ftse 100 index 9 and the australian securities exchange where it is a component of the s & p asx 200 index . 10 contents 1 formation 2 operating history 3 major mergers and acquisitions 3.1 early acquisitions 3.2 merger with consolidated zinc 3.3 recent mergers acquisitions and events 4 corporate status 4.1 organisation 4.1.1 subsidiaries 4.2 stock structure and ownership 4.2.1 bhp billiton bid 4.2.2 chinalco investment 4.3 management 5 operations 5.1 copper and byproducts rio tinto copper 5.2 aluminium and related products rio tinto alcan 5.3 coal and uranium rio tinto energy 5.4 diamonds rio tinto diamonds 5.5 industrial minerals rio tinto minerals 5.6 iron products and titanium rio tinto iron and titanium 6 financial results 7 public impact 7.1 involvement with axis powers in world war ii 7.2 criticisms 7.2.1 environment 7.2.2 labour and human rights 8 see also 9 references 10 external links formation edit the company s name comes from the rio tinto in southwestern spain which has flowed red since mining began there about 5000 years ago due to acid mine drainage hugh matheson led the purchase of the rio tinto mines from spain and was the company s first president . 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 . 11 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 . 11 however spain s mining operations there were inefficient and the government itself was otherwise distracted by political and financial crises 12 leading the government to sell the mines in 1873 at a price later determined to be well below actual value . 13 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 railway 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 . 12 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 . 14 operating history edit following their purchase of the rio tinto mine the new ownership constructed a number of new processing facilities innovated new mining techniques and expanded mining activities . 12 from 1877 to 1891 the rio tinto mine was the world s leading producer of copper . 15 the open pit corta atalaya mine was part of rio tinto s original operations in spain . from 1870 through 1925 the company was inwardly focused on fully exploiting the rio tinto mine with little attention paid to expansion or exploration activities outside of spain . the company enjoyed strong financial success until 1914 colluding with other pyrite producers to control market prices . however world war i and its aftermath effectively eliminated the united states as a viable market for european pyrites leading to a decline in the firm s prominence . 12 pyrite was a major product of rio tinto s first mines . the company s failure to diversify during this period led to the slow decline of the company among the ranks of international mining firms . however this changed in 1925 when sir auckland geddes succeeded lord alfred milner as chairman . geddes and the new management team he installed focused on diversification of the company s investments and operations and reformation of marketing strategy . geddes led the company into a series of joint ventures with customers in the development of new technologies as well as exploration and development of new mines outside of spain . 12 perhaps most significant was the company s investment in copper mines in northern rhodesia later zambia which it eventually consolidated into the rhokana corporation . 12 these and later efforts at diversification eventually allowed the company to divest from the rio tinto mine in spain . by the 1950s franco s nationalistic government had made it increasingly difficult to exploit spanish resources for the profit of foreigners . 12 rio tinto company supported by its international investments was able to divest two thirds of its spanish operations in 1954 and the remainder over the following years . 16 major mergers and acquisitions edit like many major mining companies the rio tinto group has historically grown through a series of mergers and acquisitions . early acquisitions edit rhodesia was the location of rio tinto s first major international expansion of mining activities . the company s first major acquisition occurred in 1929 when the company issued stock for the purpose of raising 2.5 million pounds to invest in northern rhodesian copper mining companies which was fully invested by the end of 1930 . the rio tinto company consolidated its holdings of these various firms under the rhokana corporation by forcing the various companies to merge . 12 rio tinto s investment in rhodesian copper mines did much to support the company through troubled times at its spanish rio tinto operations spanning the spanish civil war world war ii and franco s nationalistic policies . in the 1950s the political situation made it increasingly difficult for mostly british and french owners to extract profits from spanish operations and the company decided to dispose of the mines from which it took its name . 12 thus in 1954 rio tinto company sold two thirds of its stake in the rio tinto mines disposing of the rest over the following years . 16 the sale of the mines financed extensive exploration activities over the following decade . 17 merger with consolidated zinc edit the company s exploration activities presented the company with an abundance of opportunities but it lacked sufficient capital and operating revenue to exploit those opportunities . this situation precipitated the next and perhaps most significant merger in the company s history . in 1962 rio tinto company merged with the australian firm consolidated zinc to form the rio tinto zinc corporation rtz and its main subsidiary conzinc riotinto of australia cra . the merger provided rio tinto the ability to exploit its new found opportunities and gave consolidated zinc a much larger asset base . 17 rtz and cra were separately managed and operated with cra focusing on opportunities within australasia and rtz taking the rest of the world . however the companies continued to trade separately and rtz s ownership of cra dipped below 50 % by 1986 . 17 strategic needs of the two companies eventually led to conflicts of interest regarding new mining opportunities and shareholders of both companies determined a merger was in their mutual best interest . in 1995 the companies merged into a dual listed company in which management was consolidated into a single entity and share holder interests were aligned and equivalent although maintained as shares in separately named entities . the merger also precipitated a name change ; after two years as rtz cra rtz became rio tinto plc and cra became rio tinto limited referred to collectively as rio tinto group or simply rio tinto . 17 recent mergers acquisitions and events edit major acquisitions following the consolidated zinc merger included u.s. borax a major producer of borax bought in 1968 16 kennecott utah copper and bp australia s coal assets which were bought from british petroleum in 1989 and a 70.7 % interest in the new south wales operations of coal & allied industries also in 1989 . 16 in 1993 the company acquired nerco and the united states coal mining businesses of cordero mining company . 16 the wordmark of alcan after its purchase by rio tinto in 2007 the acquisition made rio tinto the largest aluminium producer in the world . in 2000 rio tinto acquired north limited an australian company with iron ore and uranium mines for 2.8 billion . 18 the takeover was partially motivated as a response to north limited s 1999 bid to have rio tinto s pilbara railway network declared open access . 19 the australian competition and consumer commission regulatory body approved the acquisition in august 2000 20 and the purchase was completed in october of the same year . 21 that year rio tinto also bought north ltd and ashton mining for us 4 billion adding additional resources in aluminium iron ore diamonds and coal . 16 in 2001 it bought under coal and allied industries the australian coal businesses of the peabody energy corporation . 16 on 14 november 2007 rio tinto completed its largest acquisition to date 6 purchasing canadian aluminium company alcan for 38.1 billion . 22 as of 2014 update this acquisition remains the largest mining deal ever completed . 23 alcan s chief executive jacynthe cote leads the new division which has been renamed rio tinto alcan and its headquarters situated in montreal . 24 m & a activity in 2008 and 2009 has been focused on divestments of assets to raise cash and refocus on core business opportunities . the company sold three major assets in 2008 raising about 3 billion in cash . in the first quarter of 2009 rio tinto reached agreements to sell its interests in the corumba iron ore mine and the jacobs ranch coal mine and completed sales of an aluminium smelter in china and the company s potash operations for an additional estimated 2.5 billion . 6 main article rio tinto espionage case on 5 july 2009 four rio tinto employees were arrested in shanghai for corruption and espionage . 25 26 one of the arrested australian citizen stern hu was ... suspected of stealing chinese state secrets for foreign countries and was detained on criminal charges