Rio Tinto sees higher copper output as Palliser renews call to scrap UK listing

Rio Tinto on Wednesday forecast higher consolidated mined copper production for the 2025 financial year driven by higher output from its Oyu Tolgoi operation in Mongolia and also faced calls from hedge fund Palliser to scrap its dual listing structure.

The miner said it expected copper production of 780,000-850,000 tonnes, compared with 660,000-720,000 tons expected in fiscal 2024.

Rio has targeted annual copper production of 1 million tonnes by 2030 as it looks to cash in on the growing demand for products needed to cut carbon emissions, such as electric cars.

As the Australian mining giant prepared for its annual investor day, Palliser Capital intensified its campaign for Rio to ditch its primary London listing.

Palliser, which has a $250m stake in the miner, wants an independent review of whether Rio should follow rival BHP and unify its corporate structure in Australia.

The company’s dual-listed structure, with a primary listing in London and a secondary in Sydney, was described as an “unmitigated failure” that had deprived shareholders of $50bn in value, Palliser said in a letter sent to the board on Wednesday.

It added that scrapping dual listing would unlock $28bn in value to London shareholders in the near-term.

"We implore the Board to act swiftly to stop the clock on further value destruction for shareholders in the hands of a structure that is unfit for the corporate world of today," the hedge fund said.

Rio has previously rejected Palliser’s prior demands, saying a listing change would cost billions of dollars in tax and destroy value.

In a separate announcement, Rio said it was selling a 30% stake in its Winu copper-gold project in Australia to Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. for $399m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com