Fact Sheet February 2018

Japan is an important, longstanding partner for Rio Tinto. A global mining and metals company, we are the largest supplier of iron ore to Japan, shipping 1.8 billion tonnes to Japan over more than 50 years. Japan is also an indispensable partner in our global operations, across our value chain, and in innovation.

A long history with Japan Rio Tinto-related entities have been doing business with Japan since at least 1961 with Comalco’s first trial shipment of bauxite from Australia to Japan; RTZ Japan was established in 1966, and the various entities came together as RTZ-CRA Japan in 1996, which then in 1997 became Rio Tinto Japan.

The Japanese steel mills underwrote the development of Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations in the Pilbara, Western Australia in the 1960s through long-term offtake contracts, which were the largest sales contracts written in Australia at the time.

2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the first shipment of iron ore from Rio Tinto’s first mine in the Pilbara, Mount Tom Price, to Japan, in August 1966. And in 2017, Rio Tinto shipped the five billionth tonne of iron ore from the Pilbara, which was destined for Japan.

In this way, Rio Tinto and Japan enjoy a strong and multi-faceted relationship that has been built over more than half a century. We cannot talk about our business today without mentioning our trusted and stable partnership with Japan.

First official train departing Tom Price, 1966

Houn Maru being loaded with first contracted iron ore at Dampier port, 1966

Rio Tinto and Japan

Fact Sheet February 2018

Japan, an important customer Rio Tinto established its corporate office in Japan in 1966, and in 2017 exported US$4.7 billion worth of products into Japan, representing 11.7 per cent of global revenue. As well as being Japan’s largest iron ore supplier, Rio Tinto’s sales today span the breadth of our product groups: aluminium, thermal and coking coal, copper, molybdenum, industrial minerals, uranium and diamonds.

Rio Tinto supplies to over 250 Japanese customers, including steel mills, power utilities, trading companies, manufacturers, and chemical companies. Japanese steel mill Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation is the Rio Tinto Group’s largest customer globally.

Iron ore Rio Tinto is the largest supplier of iron ore to Japan, selling to all of Japan’s integrated steel mills. The vast majority of sales are from the Pilbara, although Japan also imports smaller quantities from Rio Tinto’s majority-owned Canadian operation, Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and Mitsui & Co. are also partners with Rio Tinto in Pilbara operations while Mitsubishi Corporation is a partner in IOC.

Coal Rio Tinto sells coking coal, an essential ingredient in the steel production process, from its Australian operations to Japan. A number of Japanese companies are joint venture partners in Rio Tinto’s coal operations.

Aluminium Japan imports all of its primary aluminium requirements, and is a major investor in overseas operations because there are no domestic smelters in Japan. Rio Tinto is one of Japan’s largest suppliers of aluminium, mainly from its smelters in New Zealand (NZAS) and Canada (Kitimat), as well as Australia. Japanese companies are joint venture partners in NZAS, BSL and Gladstone.

Uranium Rio Tinto is the longest supplier of uranium to Japan, through its Rössing and ERA mines.

Copper Rio Tinto has been supplying Japan with copper since the 1970s. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Japanese lenders have provided several project finance facilities to the Escondida copper mine in Chile, in which Rio Tinto owns 30 per cent, including US$500 million in project finance in 2017 to support construction of a desalination plant.

Molybdenum Rio Tinto Kennecott molybdenum is sold to Japanese customers through Mitsubishi Corporation, our distributor and business partner. Japan has historically been the third largest market for Kennecott’s molybdenum after North America and Europe.

Industrial minerals Japan is a major market for Rio Tinto’s industrial minerals portfolio, including titanium dioxide for paint, paper, plastics and titanium metal; metal powders and high purity iron for automotive castings; zircon for specialty refractories, glass and ceramics; salt for industrial chemicals; and borates for insulation fibreglass and the glass used in smartphone, tablet and television screens.

Diamonds Japan also routinely figures as one of the top three customers by value for Rio Tinto’s Argyle Pink Diamonds. In the late 1980s, Japanese designers were the first to incorporate Argyle’s pink diamonds in beautiful, innovative designs.

Japanese companies are joint venture partners in many of Rio Tinto’s operations and projects around the world

Fact Sheet February 2018

Japanese companies supporting our mine to market value chain Japanese suppliers make a vital contribution right across Rio Tinto’s global mine to market value chain.

At Rio Tinto’s operations, Japanese products from companies such as Komatsu, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Bridgestone, IHI, Fuji Electric, Toyota, Earth Technica (Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group) and more are deployed on a daily basis.

Two Japanese steel mills, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and JFE Steel, supply all of the steel for Rio Tinto’s 1,700 km railway in the Pilbara region of Australia, while Japanese rail steel is also supplied to our Canadian iron ore operations.

In processing aluminium from bauxite, chemicals and materials manufactured by Japanese companies such as Tosoh, SEC Carbon and Nippon Electrode are also used.

Japanese-built vessels from Namura and Oshima are part of the Rio Tinto marine fleet, and Rio Tinto often uses Japanese shipping owners/operators such as MOL, NYK, Kawasaki and Santoku for the seaborne trade.

A virtuous cycle between Japanese companies and Rio Tinto Iron ore journeys from Rio Tinto’s mines to Japan, to be forged into steel. This steel is then transformed into buildings and bridges and cars, with the help of Japanese innovation and expertise.

But the steel also finds its way back to the mines as haul trucks, excavators, tires, rail, ships and more, for Rio Tinto to mine and transport more iron ore back to Japan. Thus the virtuous cycle of economy and production continues.

Japanese companies as innovation partners Strategic innovation partnerships with Japanese companies continue to deliver enhanced safety and efficiency throughout our operations.

Japanese leading-edge technology includes, for example, autonomous / driverless technology

from our partnership with Komatsu, and Japanese approaches to business improvement such as “Kaizen” and Lean production. Our AutoHaul® autonomous heavy-haulage rail system used in the Pilbara is supplied by Ansaldo STS, which is under the Hitachi Limited umbrella.

(L to R) Autonomous Haulage System driverless truck on site in the Pilbara; control room at Operations Centre in Perth; AutoHaul® driverless train in the Pilbara

Rio Tinto’s Japan office established in 1966 maintains and develops its important business with Japan

Fact Sheet February 2018

A historic visit In July 2014 Rio Tinto was honoured to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Abe together with then-Australian Prime Minister Abbott to our West Angelas iron ore mine in the

Pilbara, Western Australia, which is part of the Robe River Joint Venture with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) and Mitsui & Co. This was the first time a Japanese Prime Minister had visited a Rio Tinto mine.

Contributing to the community Rio Tinto is committed to supporting the Tohoku region of Japan, which was devastated by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. In May 2011, we established a JPY 400 million, 10-year scholarship with Komatsu for students at Tohoku University who would not have been able to continue their studies otherwise.

We also support the organization “ARTS for HOPE” which helps children and others in Tohoku overcome the trauma of the disaster through arts activities, through donations and volunteering by RTJ employees.

In summer 2015, Rio Tinto collaborated with several Japanese partners to host an exhibit at the 23rd World Scout Jamboree held in Yamaguchi Prefecture, “From the Earth to My Life”, to help educate these future leaders about the importance of natural resources in our daily

lives. The exhibit showcased important minerals (iron ore, bauxite and copper) that are

transformed into the steel, aluminium and copper metal that are further processed to become an automobile.

(L to R) Rio Tinto then-CEO Sam Walsh, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Rio Tinto -Iron Ore then-chief executive Andrew Harding

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at West Angelas Mine

View of the “From the Earth to My Life” exhibit at the 23rd World Scout Jamboree

Children at ARTS for HOPE summer camp

Scouts check out the amount of steel needed to build a 4WD vehicle