Rössing Uranium within the Rio Tinto Group

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the United Kingdom. We employ around 77,000 people and work in over 40 countries worldwide.

We discover, mine, process and supply the metals and minerals that make modern life work. Our major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore.

Most of our assets are in Australia and North America, but we also have significant businesses in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Our shares are traded mainly on the London Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange, as well as in New York, New Zealand and Europe. Our history begins in an ancient mine in southern Spain named after the local Red River – which is the meaning of our name. This mine once supplied copper to the Roman Empire. Nearly 140 years ago, in 1873, NM Rothschild & Sons of London and De Rothschild Frères of Paris joined investors to buy this loss-making mine from the Spanish Government.

Many years later, in 1962, Rio Tinto’s Australian company and Consolidated Zinc – which was formed in 1905 to mine in New South Wales – joined forces as Conzinc Riotinto of Australia. Meanwhile, their counterparts formed the Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) Corporation in the UK, which changed to Rio Tinto in 1997, reflecting this growth from an international company to one with global scale and reach. In 2007, we acquired the Canadian aluminium producer, Alcan, in a US$38 billion transaction. Rio Tinto owns the majority of shares (69 per cent) in Rössing Uranium Limited.

Rössing is one of two uranium mines within the Group, with Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) being the other. Now, as one of the world’s largest and most successful companies, we are recognised way beyond our own industry sector. We like to think that Rio Tinto links those miners who produced copper for the Roman Empire to the miners who keep the world in motion today. Front page: One of our environmental specialists, Aina Kadhila Amoomo, conducts an air quality test next to the Fine Crushing Plant to determine dust pollution. She is using a dust sampler to determine the level of dust in the air at different points around the mine.