Rio Tinto Iron Ore's sales offices are located in Beijing, London, Seoul, Shanghai and 
Rio Tinto Iron Ore's markets in the Asian region include China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan. In Europe, our markets include the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.
Sales offices are located in Beijing, London, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. The marketing divisions are located in Perth, Western Australia and includes technical and commercial support teams.
2005 Seaborne traded ore > 580Mt
Hamersley Iron was established in the 1960s on the foundations of the Memorandum of Understanding provided by the newly developed Japanese steel mills.
Japan is Hamersley's oldest trading partner; with the company's first shipments of iron ore made to Yawata Steel (now Nippon Steel) in 1966. Since this time we have had a long and successful business relationship with our Japanese customers.
Robe River Iron Associates is a highly successful long-standing international joint venture between Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian resources group, Mitsui, a Japanese trading company, and two Japanese steel companies, Nippon Steel Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Industries. Initially formed in 1962 by Cleveland Cliffs, Rio Tinto gained a 53% interest in the joint venture following the acquisition of North Limited in 2000.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore's relationship with China has grown out of mutual understanding and relationships built up over the past 30 years. China possesses substantial amounts of low-grade iron ore, however, the demand for steel exceeds the capacity of the domestic iron ore industry. As a result, seaborne traded iron ore is a significant import for China.
Shipments of iron ore to the region began in 1973. In 1987, following several years of negotiation, the Channar Joint Venture was established between Hamersley (60%) and the then Ministry of Metallurgical Industry's trading arm CMIEC (40%), the largest Chinese overseas joint venture at the time.
In mid-2002, the BaoHI Ranges Joint Venture was signed between Hamersley and the Shanghai Baosteel Group (SBG). This project will see Hamersley deliver 200 million tonnes of iron ore to SBG over the next 20 years.
Seaborne traded ore by market
Rio Tinto Iron Ore has committed US$2.9 billion to expansion projects at Hamersley and Robe's China is clearly driving global demand for iron ore, being the largest and fastest growing market for seaborne traded iron ore. The rapid pace of China's industrialisation, the growing urbanisation of the population and sustained investment from the private business sector are driving China's economic development.
China is now the largest importer of iron ore. The growth in iron ore demand is widely expected to be sustained, with a shift towards long-term supply arrangements with global iron ore suppliers.
As one of the largest suppliers to the Chinese market, Rio Tinto Iron Ore is increasing the production capacity of the Pilbara-based iron ore operations in line with market demand.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore has committed US$2.9 billion to expansion projects at Hamersley and Robe's operations. Production capacity from Rio Tinto's Pilbara-based iron ore operations is expected to reach 200 million tonnes per year by early 2008.
For further information on Rio Tinto's operations please go to www.riotinto.com
For further information on mining activities in Western Australia please go to www.cmewa.com
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