27th May 2014 13:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC Tuesday said it has now appointed Alfredo Barrios as the Chief Executive of its Aluminium business, to succeed Jacynthe Cote, who has had to vacate her position at the company for personal reasons.
The mining giant said Barrios will start in the role, based in Montreal, and join the company's Executive Committee on June 1 while Jacynthe will continue on an advisory role with the company until September 1.
Barrios was, most recently, Executive Director and Executive Vice President Downstream at the TNK-BP joint venture, one of Russia's largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies, after working for BP PLC from 1992.
The company's aluminium business performed well in 2013, improving production by 3% to 3.6 million tonnes but in its first quarter 2014, aluminium production rates were flat on the previous year at 832,000 tonnes as higher bauxite and alumina production rates were offset by fallsi n production from its Gove alumina refinery in Australia, where production is being progressively ramped down towards being put on care and maintenance in July.
Aluminium is one of the most-abundant metals in the earth?s crust and is used in everything from beverage cans to auto parts.
"We are delighted to welcome Alfredo to Rio Tinto who will undoubtedly bring renewed vigour and experience to our Aluminium business. I am confident he will build on the foundations Jacynthe and her team have put in place and drive further improvement in delivering increased value from the business," Chief Executive Sam Walsh said in a statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rio Tinto said it had signed an investment framework providing the legal framework to develop blocks three and four of the major Simandou project with the Government of Guinea, the Aluminium Corporation of China, and the International Finance Corporation.
The Simandou South project, which is worth an estimated USD20 billion, is an iron ore mining development located in the south-east of Guinea and will be the largest combined iron ore and infrastructure project ever developed in Africa, said Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto shares were down 0.5% to 3,240.00 pence, putting it in the top ten FTSE 100 fallers on Tuesday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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