Press releases

WORLD LEADERS IN BORATES, TALC AND SALT COMBINE TO FORM RIO TINTO MINERALS

November 8, 2005 - Toulouse, France - Rio Tinto, a world leader in finding, mining and processing the world’s mineral resources, has announced that it will bring three of its industrial minerals businesses together under common management to better serve markets. Rio Tinto Borax, the world leader in borate supply and science; Luzenac, the world’s foremost talc producer; and Dampier Salt Ltd., the premier exporter of solar salt will be brought under common management to form Rio Tinto Minerals (RTM). Together with Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium (RTIT), Rio Tinto Minerals will form the Rio Tinto Industrial Minerals Product Group (RTIM).

“We are building on our remarkable resource base to achieve efficiencies of scale, and create a platform for growth,” said Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Executive of RTIM and Chairman of RTM and RTIT.

Combining the businesses’ resource base, expertise and infrastructure supports global market growth, with a particular focus on developing economies where demand for high-quality industrial minerals is rising. Rio Tinto Minerals will preserve brand equity developed over centuries by continuing to market its products under the existing brands - Dampier salt, Luzenac talcs and Twenty Mule Team® borates.

The new structure will be implemented progressively throughout 2006. Effective 1 February 2006, Gary Goldberg, currently President and CEO of Borax, will be appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of Rio Tinto Minerals. Adam Parr, currently Managing Director of Dampier Salt, will assume the role of President and Chief Commercial Officer. Both will report to Andrew MacKenzie.

Existing corporate legal entities will remain in place and continue to transact business in a manner consistent with the overarching Rio Tinto Minerals vision

About Borax

Established in 1872, Borax supplies 43 percent of global demand for refined borates from its mine in California’s Mojave Desert. Among its nearly 1,400 employees are acknowledged world leaders in borate supply and science. Borates are essential for plants, part of a healthy human diet, and key ingredients in fiberglass, glass, ceramics, detergents, agricultural nutrients and wood preservatives.

About Dampier

Dampier is the world’s largest salt exporter. The company employs more than 300 people at three sites in Australia and ships 8.5 million tonnes of salt and more than one million tonnes of gypsum to customers in Asia and the Middle East. Salt is essential to life, and indispensable to a wide array of industries that produce automotive, construction and electronic products.

About Luzenac

Luzenac derives its name from a village in the French Pyrenees where its first plant was located to process ore from the world’s largest talc deposit, beginning in the 19th century. The company employs 1,500 people in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, and supplies 25 percent of the world talc market. Talcs enhance performance in countless applications, including paper, paints, plastics, ceramics, personal care products, agriculture and pharmaceuticals.

Contact: Laura Jones: +33 5 61 50 20 37
Email: laura.jones@luzenac.com