Rio Tinto revamps top team in bid to regain trust

Rio Tinto unveiled a new leadership team as Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm tries to strengthen governance and restore trust after the destruction of sacred Aboriginal ground forced out his predecessor.

The FTSE 100 miner said Simon Trott, chief commercial officer, would become CEO of iron ore and that Arnaud Soirat, copper and diamonds CEO, would take the new job of chief operating officer.

Kellie Parker, who runs Pacific aluminium operations, will join Stausholm's top team as CEO of Australia. Her job will be to rebuild trust and strengthen relationships in Australia, where Rio Tinto blew up a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site in May to expand an iron ore mine.

Jean-Sébastien Jacques quit as chief executive in September after an investor backlash against the company over the destruction of the site and the company's handling of the incident. The group's head of iron ore and corporate affairs chief also quit as the company tried to salvage its reputation.

Stausholm said: "While Rio Tinto continues to deliver strong safety and operational performance, despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19, there are improvements we can achieve across the business to make Rio Tinto more resilient and an even stronger performer and employer. I want to re-establish Rio Tinto as a trusted partner for host communities, governments and other stakeholders."

Rio Tinto said Vera Kirikova, chief people officer, had decided to leave and would be replaced by James Martin, a partner at consultancy firm Egon Zehnder, in April.