September 22, 2017 - Rio Tinto has today committed an additional $2.5 billion to its ongoing share buy-back program, returning the proceeds of the sale of Coal & Allied to its shareholders.

The capital return program will be executed through a combination of an off-market buy-back tender, targeting A$700 million (approximately $560 million) of Rio Tinto Limited shares, with the balance of approximately $1.9 billion of additional funds being allocated to Rio Tinto’s existing on-market purchases of Rio Tinto plc shares (the “Program”).

Today’s announcement brings the total of Rio Tinto share buy-backs announced during 2017 to $4 billion, comprising the $2.5 billion committed today and the $500 million and $1 billion on-market share buy-back programs of Rio Tinto plc shares, announced on February 8, 2017 and August 2, 2017.

Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said “Returning the $2.5 billion proceeds from our Coal & Allied divestment shows our continued commitment to delivering superior value and returning cash to our shareholders. This year we have announced cash returns to shareholders of $8.2 billion, comprising $4.2 billion of dividends and $4 billion of share buy-backs. Shareholder returns of this scale are made possible by maintaining the strongest balance sheet in the sector and a disciplined capital allocation process.”