Posted on 08 Dec 2025
Rio Tinto said Thursday it is targeting up to $10 billion in cash from asset divestments, a strategy to make the company stronger, sharper and simpler, Kallanish reports.
Chief executive Simon Trott said during the company’s 2025 Capital Markets Day in London that the strategy is one of three immediate focus areas, alongside sharpening productivity and performance, and delivering on three major growth projects: Simandou, Oyu Tolgoi and Rincon.
To “release value” from its asset base, the company will divest assets in mining/processing that don’t meet return criteria, and sell minority stakes to strategic partners. Land/exploration assets that don’t meet “investment thesis” will also be disposed of, while plans for infrastructure assets also include leasing.
“What we want to do is make sure that we have as efficient as possible capital structure, and we’re really focusing our efforts on where we can move the needle,” chief executive Simon Trott says. “As an example, around $500 million is an infrastructure asset we need access to, but we don’t need to own on our own balance sheet. And so that’ll comprise a component of it [with monetisation through potential leasing].”
The targeted funds will further strengthen its balance sheet, optimise capital structure, fund ongoing capital projects and enable shareholders’ dividend payout of 40-60%. At the same time, Rio will cut capex to below $10 billion per year from 2028. It plans to spend $1 billion annually to grow its lithium business, but it has revised down its decarbonisation capex from $5-6 billion to $1-2 billion through to 2030.
The latter was attributed to leveraging third-party investment in renewables and disciplined capital allocation principles “with the technologies needed to achieve the hardest net-zero emissions reductions taking time to mature.”
“We are building from a position of strength for Rio Tinto’s next chapter, sharpening and simplifying the business to deliver leading returns,” Trott says in a statement. “We will drive performance through discipline, productivity and unmatched growth to unlock the full potential of our diversified portfolio of world-class assets.”
The miner has upgraded its copper production guidance for this year to 860,000-875,000 tonnes, and revised down cost guidance to 80-100 US cents/pounds. It anticipates demand for the red metal to grow 1.3 times in 2035 from 34 million t this year, estimating a gap of up to 9m t of mined copper supply over the next decade.
Katie Jackson, Rio Tinto Copper ceo, says the business is driving profitable growth, diversification and resilience and is on track to deliver 1m t/y production capacity by 2030. Although Rio’s strategy is to maximise opportunities from existing assets, Jackson notes the company is also advancing a broader project pipeline with “attractive options.”
This includes the Winu project in Australia entering the full feasibility study stage; continued interest and confidence in the Resolution Copper project in the US, where litigation is ongoing; updating resource estimate at the La Granja project in Peru targeting feasibility study around 2028; and carrying out drilling programs at Nuevo Cobre in Chile in partnership with Codelco.
Rio also plans to produce 61,000-64,000 t of lithium carbonate equivalent next year, growing its production capacity to 200,000 t/y by 2028. (See related story)
Source:Kallanish
