Delivering resilient performance under challenging conditions

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1 Delivering resilient performance under challenging conditions Sam Walsh AO, chief executive Nikkei Global Management Forum, Tokyo 10 November 2015 **Check against delivery** Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It s great to be in Japan again and great to see so many familiar faces. We at Rio Tinto are very proud to have built an enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with Japan over the past half century. In fact, given the theme of today, I think it truly is a resilient relationship. There is no doubt, that we do live in challenging economic and political times, but I am reminded of the iconic print you would all know well Hokusai s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. A wonderful image. A white-capped turbulent sea in the foreground. A snow-capped Mt Fuji in the background. What is sometimes overlooked in that woodblock print are the small fishing boats cutting through the waves the fishermen plying their oars with great discipline and purpose. I suggest that s the metaphor for this conference and our age the fast and nimble boat cuts through a large or rough sea. Today I will talk about how we should all look to deliver resilient performance in challenging conditions. We must all be that fast and nimble boat. But to start things off, I ll touch a little on Rio Tinto, our history and our strong links with Japan. I ll make a few comments on the world s continued demand for more metals and minerals. And how a focus on innovation, speed and disciplined execution are the keys to cutting through the waves to deliver resilience. Now, it is interesting to reflect on two earlier presentations, the world s largest consumer-drone manufacturer and China s largest online gaming company. We use drones in our business, and while we are not into gaming, we do run virtual simulations to project, manage and problem-solve. So we thrive on using new technology. We find the best innovation and technology occurs in partnerships, which I will also explore. So first of all, let me share a brief overview of Rio Tinto. We provide the metals and minerals that make our modern world work, the: bauxite, alumina and aluminium for planes, trains and automobiles; iron ore and coal in steel for the buildings you work in and homes you live in; borate or silicate for your solar panel or TV screen; and copper in your electricity grid, or maybe the pink diamond in your ring. Page 1 of 6

2 Rio Tinto is 142 years young. Formed to re-develop a 5000-year old copper mine near a red river in the south of Spain. We have transformed our company decade-by-decade to now operate in more than 40 countries. We own and operate some of the lowest cost and best businesses and I stress businesses, not just mines in the resources sector. And year-by-year taking early action and the hard decisions when required we have built new resilience. For example in the past two and half years, commodity prices have fallen more than half in some cases. During this decline we have acted with speed, and: reduced our cost base by $5.4 billion; saved $2 billion in wasteful working capital; trimmed our capital spend from $17.6 billion to closer to $5.5 billion; reduced our gearing to a very enviable 21 per cent; and increased our returns to shareholders. Combined, these actions have delivered dividends and new strength. In June of this year we achieved the highest underlying earnings of any mining company in the world, all without compromising our long-term commitment to growth. Over the past 50 years our growth has been very much tied to Asia starting here in Japan. Japanese steel mills were the foundation customer for our Australian iron ore business and today, we are the largest iron ore supplier to Japan. Indeed we are the largest supplier of raw materials to Japan. A cornerstone customer of our quality portfolio, across all of our products. But Japan is more than just a customer. We have 15 joint ventures with Japanese companies and Japan is also a key part of our global supply chain. Names such as Bridgestone, Fuji Electric, Hitachi Construction Machinery, IHI, Komatsu and Toyota. We also use rail steel from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and JFE Steel and Japanese shipping lines for our seaborne trade. In fact, Japan s fleet carries a great deal of our cargo being among the most modern and fastest. It is a challenging time for many businesses, but I am optimistic. In the materials and energy sectors we have seen such cycles before, and when they turn they turn quickly. In other industries I am sure regional economic uncertainties and the disruptive forces of new technologies also pose their own sets of challenges. Now we could debate whether the world is growing at two or three per cent this year but that would fall into the trap of short-termism. Seeking to ride or trade every wave. Let s instead focus on the long-term human needs - of a growing population and urbanisation. By 2050, the world s population will increase by a third to 9.5 billion people. Much like Japan s past, and China s present, the world continues to urbanise at a great rate. Page 2 of 6

3 In the next fifteen years, 220 million people in China will move to an urban environment. In India and ASEAN the number is 250 million people. And while the developed world gets older, Africa remains relatively young with an average age of 19.4 years compared to Japan s 46 years. Japan s population today is much the same as it was in 1990 some 125 million people. But by 2050 it will be 25 million less. Over the same time frame, Nigeria s population has doubled to 183 million and will more than double again by 2050 to 440 million. These are huge population flows and urbanisation demands that will require the materials that make modern life work. For example: Steel consumption will grow 40 per cent in next 15 years; Aluminium by more than 40 per cent over the next decade. The long-term demand outlook for our industry is robust, but how you react will depend on your own corporate resilience. To my mind, resilience is all about having a clear view of the future to set your company s compass regardless of the seas. You can t just ride the top of a cycle or a single wave off Kanagawa. You need to: anticipate the changes to come and act with speed to stay ahead of a falling curve; be a leader not a follower, with continuous improvement in your DNA; use technology to drive costs lower, and innovation to grow new markets; and partner with the best - and execute with discipline. In many parts of our business Rio Tinto is a cost, and a margin, leader. Let me share some examples. In the iron-rich province of the Pilbara in Western Australia we have for decades operated the world s best and lowest-cost iron ore business. Geology gave us a head start, but it is our systems thinking much of it initially derived from Japan s automotive industry that sets our business apart. We invested in iron ore well before new entrants arrived, and we tapered our spending well before the peak. What hasn t stopped is our commitment to using new technology to extend our cost advantage. Almost a decade ago, we began planning for an integrated operations centre, a command centre, to run our iron ore operations. Similar to an automotive production line we wanted to streamline all the moving parts people, production, and productivity. We anticipated the technology changes to come. What began first as trials in 2007, moved with speed to a fully operational centre in Today we manage our 15 iron ore mines, 190 trains on 1700 kilometres of rail, and four ports from our operations centre 1500 kilometres away in Perth. All with the purpose of capturing system-wide gains, and operationalising new technologies. Page 3 of 6

4 We have deployed: the world s largest fleet of automated trucks; automated drilling fleets to map orebodies in preparation for mining, grade control and explosives; and we are completing trials on the world s first automated heavy-haul railway. But we didn t take the risk alone. In driverless trucks, it was our pioneering work with Komatsu here in Japan that helped us stretch our industry lead. Today our fleet of 69 driverless trucks is the largest in the world. It outperforms the manned fleet by about 12 per cent and allows us to also reduce the fleet size. So we achieve both operating gains and capital efficiency gains making a great business even better. It is not just about buying driverless trucks or building a single operational centre. It is built on a decade of hard work, not opportunism at the top of the cycle. And it is the quality and surety of the premium products we supply - which our customers in Japan and the world rely upon that helps build resilience in our customers businesses, and therefore in ours. We have a similar long-term story in Canada at our aluminium smelter at Kitimat. A few months ago I was at Kitimat to celebrate the first pour of hot metal. It is the most modern aluminium smelter in the world due in part to many decades of commitment to technology research. Bringing fresh investment and proprietary technology together enables us to realise significant gains, including a: 48 per cent increase in production; 33 per cent increase in energy efficiency; 50 per cent reduction in overall air emissions; and 60 per cent improvement in workforce productivity. Kitimat s environmental footprint is an important differentiator, too. With its hydro-power source, Kitimat s carbon footprint is around six times lower than the industry average. This is important given the increasingly stringent green-accreditation required by car manufacturers and consumer packaging be it for say a Toyota Prius or a Nespresso coffee capsule. With Kitimat on line, our aluminium business is now in the lowest cost quartile of producers. We won t be complacent, but that is a very resilient place to be for now, and for the industry s future growth. So technology does more than just deliver productivity leadership it can deliver environmental benefits too. We have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 18 per cent over the past six years. Innovation and adaptation require disciplined execution though. Page 4 of 6

5 That is why we have a dedicated team a Technology & Innovation group. Their job is to: act with discipline to shape projects at the early stage, to ensure they are fit for capital; work with our technology partners around the world such as with Hitachi Limited, and Komatsu that I mentioned, and many others; and act with speed to operationalise new technologies and embed productivity gains both safely and efficiently. They work with various sites on a range of technologies from processing technologies to automation, and yes we are trialling drones at a number of sites. And while I have talked about innovation more from an operational excellence perspective, there are many ways we seek to drive value to achieve new growth. For example in exploration after a decade of collaborative partnering with major research institutions, we can now test for microscopic-sized pathfinder elements. With as few as a dozen rock samples we can judge if we are within close proximity to a particular style of copper deposit, or diamond deposit. The technology is one thing, but the competitive advantage we hold are the millions of mineral samples we have collected over the decades. An intellectual database few will ever match. And while we may be a raw materials company at our core, wrapped in technology, we should never overlook the importance of product innovation and the consumer. In our diamonds business this has been key for many years. Today, the rarest diamonds in the world, pink diamonds from Rio Tinto s Argyle diamond mine, find their way into the hands of the world s finest jewellers. The pink diamond jewellery phenomenon started in Japan in the late 1980s, when Japanese designers were bold enough to embrace our pink diamonds and incorporate them into beautiful and innovative designs. Today, Japan is one of the major customers for our pink diamonds, while our tenders and auctions of rare pink diamonds are key events in the jewellery calendar. Another example that a raw material within a culture of innovation can become not only beautiful to the eye, but resilient too. At Rio Tinto, being world-class means using technology and innovation to drive productivity and growth. It s that combination of technology and productivity in our DNA, backed by partners with disciplined execution that we seek to build on year-by-year. For we know we must not be complacent. That there will always be challenges ahead to navigate through. But we have been preparing for rough seas for years. Over many decades, and the actions we have taken in recent years, we have built a business that can meet not only the challenges of today but the needs of our customers and partners tomorrow. So that no matter how high the waves may rise we are positioned to cut through them with agility and resilience. Thank you. Page 5 of 6

6 Contacts on Twitter Media Relations, EMEA/Americas Illtud Harri T M David Outhwaite T M David Luff T M Investor Relations, EMEA/Americas John Smelt T M David Ovington T M Media Relations, Australia/Asia Ben Mitchell T M Bruce Tobin T M Matthew Klar T M Investor Relations, Australia/Asia Natalie Worley T M Rachel Storrs T M Grant Donald T M Rio Tinto plc 6 St James s Square London SW1Y 4AD United Kingdom T Registered in England No Rio Tinto Limited 120 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 Australia T Registered in Australia ABN Page 6 of 6

Partnering for a new era of growth

Partnering for a new era of growth Greg Lilleyman, group executive Technology & Innovation Nikkei Asian Review Forum, Sydney 15 October 2015 **Check against delivery** Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,