RIO Tinto said on Thursday its CEO of four years’ standing Jakob Stausholm would step down from the company later this year once a successor was found.
“Jakob will continue to lead Rio Tinto as chief executive and a member of the board of directors while a successor is appointed,” the group said. “A rigorous selection process is already underway, led by the nominations committee.”
Stausholm was appointed CEO of the Anglo-Australian miner in 2021 after serving as CFO from 2018. Under his control, the group has pursued an aggressive strategy of expansion in lithium, as well as resetting on corporate culture and ESG issues.
“Under Jakob’s leadership, Rio Tinto has restored trust with key stakeholders,” said Dominic Barton chairperson of the group today. He said Stausholm had also “aligned” the company with “the commodities where demand growth is strongest”.
Reuters cited an analyst as saying the Stausholm’s immient departure was a surprise. Glyn Lawcock at Barrenjoey in Sydney said it had taken the market by surprise, since Stausholm was only five years into a tenure that typically extends to six. “He’s done a good job on the soft issues,” Lawcock told the newswire.
Said Barton: “This is a natural moment to appoint Jakob’s successor, as we look ahead to our next phase”.
Stausholm said he had “built on Rio Tinto’s historic strengths to deliver profitable, stable growth and significant shareholder value”.
Earlier today, Rio Tinto said it was conducting early works and final studies to potentially almost double bauxite production from its Amrun project in far north Queensland by 2029.
It wold develop a new project called Kangwinan increasing annual bauxite production capacity from Rio’s Weipa Southern operations by as much as 20 million tons a year from the current 23 million tons/year. A final investment decision is due next year.
On May 19 it agreed to invest $900m in the Salar de Maricunga lithium project in Chile, taking a 49.9% ownership in the process, with the balance held by Codelco.
Rio Tinto is bullish on outlook for lithium and “is putting money where its mouth is,” according to analysts at Bank of America.
In 2024, the miner announced an investment to expand lithium production at its Rincon property in Argentina following its acquisition of Arcadium Lithium. “By the time Rio is done, capital employed in the business should be $10bn+,” said the bank.
