28th Jan 2021 10:08
(Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC on Thursday has announced a new executive team in order to strengthen its environmental, social, and corporate governance credentials and rebuild trust, particularly in Australia.
The London-based metals and mining company received outcry and regulatory scrutiny in 2020 after the company blew up a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site to expand the Pilbara iron ore mine in Western Australia. Rio warned last Tuesday that the regulatory impact from that event "remains unknown".
Following this, Jakob Stausholm, who took over the chief executive role at the start of 2021 from Jean-Sebastian Jacques, has appointed new executives going forward. Chief Commercial Officer Simon Trott is set to become Iron Ore chief executive, Copper & Diamonds Chief Executive Arnaud Soirat will become group chief operating officer and Kellie Parker, managing director Pacific Operations Aluminium, will take on the role of chief executive Australia.
Parker will focus on rebuilding trust and strengthening external relationships across Australia, Rio Tinto said.
In addition, Interim Iron Ore Chief Executive Ivan Vella will become Aluminium chief executive, Energy & Minerals Chief Executive Bold Baatar will become Copper chief executive and Sinead Kaufman, managing director operations Copper & Diamonds, will take on the role of Minerals chief executive.
Rio Tinto said it will retain the four product groups of aluminium, copper, iron ore and minerals, which will now include the diamonds business.
It added that Chief People Officer Vera Kirikova has decided to leave, with James Martin, a partner at London-based management consulting company Egon Zehnder, taking over the role from April 6.
Peter Cunningham will continue as interim chief financial officer until the recruitment process for a permanent appointment is finalised.
Stausholm said: "While Rio Tinto continues to deliver strong safety and operational performance, despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19, there are improvements we can achieve across the business to make Rio Tinto more resilient, and an even stronger performer and employer. I want to re-establish Rio Tinto as a trusted partner for host communities, governments and other stakeholders."
Shares in Rio Tinto were down 1.1% at 5,673.00 pence in London on Thursday.
By Zoe Wickens; [email protected]
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