1

The Surging Fortunes of Aluminium

Oscar Groeneveld

Sydney Mining Club

December 1, 2005

2

CEO

Aluminium

Brisbane

Copper

London

Energy

London

Diamonds

London

IndustrialMinerals

London

Iron Ore

Perth

Technology

London

Exploration

London

Group executivesChairman

Finance Director

3

Rio Tinto Assets by Region

United States 16%

Australia 60%

2% Indonesia

2%Europe

4%S America3%Africa

Canada 13%

Data under UKGAAP

4

Rio Tinto Aluminium Assets

Anglesey

Eurallumina

Weipa

Boyne Smelters Limited, Comalco Alumina Refinery, Queensland Alumina Limited, Gladstone Power Station

Bell BayNZAS

5

Primary aluminium production by region 1980-2004

1980(16 million tonnes)

Japan7%

Middle East1%

Others8%

China2%

CIS17%

Australia2%

Africa3%

Brazil2%

Canada7%

United States29%

Western Europe

22%

2004(27 million tonnes)

Others9%

United States10%

Africa6%

China22%

CIS14%

Australia6%

Western Europe

14%

Canada9%

Brazil5%

Middle East5%

Source: International Aluminium Institute

6

Worldwide, aluminium products are becoming less GHG intense on a per tonne shipped basis

This is due to:

• Lower emissions from primary aluminium facilities

• Improvements in energy efficiency

AND

• Increases in the percentage of recycled metal relative to primary metal

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

To

nn

es C

O 2 e

qu

ivale

nt

per

ton

ne a

lum

iniu

m

Source: International Aluminium Institute

7

The Aluminium Inventory – a mine of energy

• Since 1888, over 700 million tonnes of aluminium have been produced.

• About three quarters of this metal is still in productive use.

• Recycling the metal currently stored in use would equal 15 years’ primary aluminium output.

516

706

Global Metal Pool (Inventory) (tonnes)

Total Metal Produced (tonnes)

Source: International Aluminium Institute

8

Vehicle Lightweighting could offset emissions from the total production of primary aluminium worldwide

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1990 1995 2000 2010 2015 2020

Th

ou

san

d t

on

nes o

f C

O2

eq

uiv

ale

nt

Potential GHG savings from vehicle lightweighting

Total GHG emissions from aluminium production (primary and recycled sources)

Vehicle lightweighting offsets emissions from

production of aluminium

Source: International Aluminium Institute

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Our People

10

Future Reef