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Rio TintoAustralia
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On record

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By: BankTrack
Created before Nov 2016
Last update: 2016-07-04 21:26:55

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Sectors Coal Mining, Mining, Nuclear Electric Power Generation
Headquarters
Ownership

Shareholders. Rio Tinto plc is listed at the London Stock Exchange and Rio Tinto Ltd is listed at the Australian Securities Exchange.

Subsidiaries
Riversdale Mozambique – Mozambique
Website https://www.riotinto.com/en

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a mining and exploration company involved in each stage of metal and mineral production and processing. Rio Tinto is one of the largest publicly listed mining companies in the world. The Group produces uranium, aluminium, copper, diamonds, coal, iron ore, gold and industrial minerals (borates, titanium dioxide, salt, talc). Rio Tinto operates in 50 countries, but it produces most in Australia and North America.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

In Mozambique, when resettling communities for the Benga project to Capanga to Mwaladzi, Riversdale did not provide promised schools and health care at resettlement sides and land for compensations was to poor for people to live on it.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report,"What is a House without Food?" accuses coal mining companies of land grabbing and human rights violations in the Mozambican Tete province. Coal mining companies like Vale, Rio Tinto, and Riversdale have reportedly resettled around 1,429 households; many residents now lack access to food and water.

In Madagascar, locals expelled from their land by Rio Tinto/QMM's mining project in Taolagnaro have been lobbying for fair compensation since 2010. In March 2013, fifteen Fagnomba organization members were arrested and imprisoned for speaking out against the mining activities.

Fort-Dauphin residents expelled from their land protested the concessions the company received for its land acquisitions along with the company's employment policy at its mineral sands operation.

Rio Tinto's African uranium mining ventures have also come under severe scrutiny. CRIRAD and Earthlife Namibia conducted research on the effects of Namibia's largest uranium mine, the Rössing uranium mine (Rio Tinto's 69% subsidiary), on the local environment, labor, and human rights. Their preliminary findings concluded that workers and residents from surrounding communities experienced health problems related to their exposure to radioactive waste and the inhalation of dust and radon gas produced by the mine. Rössing's health and safety protocols were shown to be outdated and inadequate. Recent measures indicated elevated levels of uranium in ground water, soil, and sediment.

In October 2011, a U.S. federal appeals court revived a lawsuit faulting Rio Tinto for multiple human rights violations and thousands of deaths linked to its subsidiary, the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. The lawsuit alleged that Rio Tinto violated international laws and was complicit to war crimes, genocide, human rights abuses, cultural devastation, and environ-mental destruction. The case was intertwined with a ten-year secessionist war in Papua New Guinea that claimed 20,000 lives. In June 2013, the courts dismissed the case against Rio Tinto following a ruling in the April 2013 Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell case, which limited the reach of U.S. law in overseas human rights cases.

The Big Gossan Mine is located in the Grasberg Gold and Copper Mining Complex in Indonesia. Following a May 2013 collapse that reportedly killed 28 people, the Indonesian government suspended production pending an investigation. Critics claim that the parent companies, Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto, should be held accountable for the accident.

Environmental and climate impacts

In 2008 the Norwegian Ministry of Finance decided to exclude the company Rio Tinto from the Government Pension Fund - Global due to a risk of contributing to severe environmental damage and the fact that there are no indications to the effect that the company's practises will be changed in future, or that measures will be taken to significantly reduce the damage to nature and the environment.

Mongolian herders claim that Rio Tinto's $5 billion expansion of their Gobi desert Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine threatens hundreds of nomadic people's access to fresh water and the area's unique ecology. Mining has taken a heavy toll on the region. Gobi desert herders report that the mine, which guzzles an estimated 191,230 m3of water daily, is drying up their traditional water sources - hand-dug wells. According to a 2010 World Bank water assessment of the Southern Gobi Region, the mine's water usage far surpasses that of local livestock herds (31,600 m3) and residents (10,000 m3). The nomadic population was neither consulted nor informed of the mine's establishment.

Mining activities led Salt Lake City to become the second most contaminated city in the U.S. Several organizations, (Utah Moms for Clean Air, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, and WildEarth Guardians) filed a 2011 lawsuit against Rio Tinto/Kennecott claiming that Rio Tinto/Kennecott operations were responsible for a disproportionate amount of Utah's air pollution and consistently violated pollution permits and EPA standards.15 An American Lung Association analysis suggested that at least one-third of Utah's population is vulnerable to pollution impacts. Youth and the elderly constitute slightly less than half of the population in Utah; 230,000 of which have asthma and nearly 494,000 suffer from cardiovascular disease.

Other impacts

Rio Tinto's controversial business practices have prompted investors like the Government Pension Fund of Norway, NORGES bank, Birch Caring Capital, and the KLP to exclude Rio Tinto from their investment portfolios.

Governance

Financiers

Related projects

Projects

active

Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) Guinea

Mining
There are no projects active for Rio Tinto now.
on record

Grasberg gold and copper mine Indonesia

Mining

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Bougainville communities file human rights complaint against Rio Tinto for impacts of mine waste pollution

2020-09-29 | Human Rights Law Centre
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto sells its last Australian coalmine for $2.25bn

2018-03-28 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

One of the World's Biggest Miners Is About to Go Coal-Free

2017-11-10 | Bloomberg
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto walks away from environmental responsibility for Bougainville’s Panguna mine

The people of Bougainville Island successfully shut down the mine in 1989, but now find themselves left to cope with its environmental fallout
2017-04-06 | Mongabay
blog
external news
our news

Scandal and intrigue overshadow environment at the Simandou mine in Guinea

2015-01-20 | Mongabay
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto closes dire chapter with $50m Mozambique coal sale

2014-07-30 | The Financial Times
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto sues Vale and Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz

2014-05-10 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Talks Stall for Rio Tinto Stake in Coal Mine

2013-09-30 | The Wall Street Journal
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto, Anglo push for stronger NSW rules

2013-08-26
blog
external news
our news

NGOs criticise poor performance new leadership Deutsche Bank

2013-05-22 | Berlin | urgewald & Facing Finance
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto in Madagascar: 15 activists arrested

2013-03-19 | Ejolt
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto rethinks Mozambique business

2013-01-22 | Mozambique | Financial Times
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto threatens to exit Madagascar after CEO is trapped by protesters

2013-01-11 | The Telegraph
blog
external news
our news
private

Rio Tinto accused over Bougainville 'genocide'

2011-10-26 | ABC News
blog
external news
our news

The Government Pension Fund divests its holdings in mining company

2008-09-09 | Norwegian Ministry of Finance

Documents

Type:
Year:
ngo documents
2018-05-31 00:00:00

Dirty profits 6

2018-05-31 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
annual reports
2014-01-01 00:00:00

2013 Annual Report

2014-01-01 00:00:00
ngo documents
2013-12-10 00:00:00

Dirty Profits II

Report on Companies and Financial Institutions Benefiting from Violations of Human Rights
2013-12-10 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
other documents
2013-08-12 00:00:00

TOP 10 CURRENTLY MOST CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS

2013-08-12 00:00:00 | RepRISK
our publications
2013-07-23 00:00:00

Coal Market Update July 2013

Low prices take their toll on coal firms
2013-07-23 00:00:00 | Greenpeace and BankTrack
ngo documents
2012-07-11 00:00:00

Rio Tinto: a record fit for the Olympics?

Rio Tinto briefing July 2012
2012-07-11 00:00:00 | London Mining Network
ngo documents
2012-04-11 00:00:00

Preliminary results of CRIIRAD radiation monitoring near uranium mines in Namibia

2012-04-11 00:00:00 | Commission de Recherche et d’Information Indépendantes sur la Radioactivité
other documents
2012-03-01 00:00:00

Most controversial mining companies of 2011

2012-03-01 00:00:00 | RepRisk
ngo documents
2009-12-12 00:00:00

Uranium Mining in Namibia. The mystery behind ‘low level radiation’

2009-12-12 00:00:00 | Hilma Shindondola-Mote
other documents
2008-02-15 00:00:00

Recommendations Norwegian Pension Fund on Rio Tinto

2008-02-15 00:00:00 | Council of Ethics - The Government Pension Fund Global
company documents
2007-03-26 00:00:00

Corporate brochure - Diverse Products

2007-03-26 00:00:00 | Rio Tinto

Links

Map by Environmental Justice, with environmental conflicts linked to Rio Tinto

http://ejatlas.org/company/rio-tinto

Ro Tintot - Sustainable Development 2013

http://www.riotinto.com/sustainabledevelopment2013/
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