RIO TINTO LTD

We recognise that our operations have an inherent impact on nature, both directly

and indirectly, and we are committed to contributing to the global shift toward a

nature positive future.

Achieving our mission to be the most valued metals and mining

business relies on the responsible stewardship of shared natural

resources. Sustainable success is driven by better decision-making,

fostering collaboration, maintaining transparency, and measuring

performance as we aim to minimise our impact on nature and

society.

Business decisions centred on strong sustainability and social

licence are imperative to creating long-term value. Our Executive

Committee and Board have overall responsibility for, and oversight

of, environmental management and performance through our Risk

Management and Sustainability Committees, including a principal

environment risk that we track at a Group level.

We have shared our support for the ICMM’s Nature Position

Statement, to align industry action on the Kunming-Montreal Global

Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and 2030 targets. Our nature

framework outlines the processes and actions that underpin our

contribution to a nature positive future, in line with increasing

societal expectations.

We take a long-term view of our responsibilities, managing the risks

and impacts of our activities from exploration and project inception

through closure and beyond. We are committed to refining our

systems and processes to ensure transparent, accountable

decision-making that strengthens environmental outcomes and

manages nature-related risks responsibly.

As stewards of natural resources, we recognise the trust placed in

us. We manage air, biodiversity, land, and water with care, along

with the material inputs and outputs of our operations and their full

life cycle footprint. This commitment ensures we operate responsibly

while supporting resilient ecosystems and sustainable communities.

Our nature frameworkAmbition: To meaningfully contribute to a nature positive future through integrated environmental management practices that support our operational excellence objective.Commitments: Deliver on our commitments for nature - including our Standards and the ICMM Nature Position Statement.Risk: Enhance our understanding and management of material business risks across our operations and value chain.Assurance Increase stakeholder confidence in performance and reporting through internal and external assurance activities for our assets and supply chains.Targets: Operational nature targets to focus our efforts on continuous improvement.Disclosures: Enhance transparency of environmental performance information and data over time.

Commitments

Our commitment to the ICMM Nature Position Statement informs

our actions and accountabilities to deliver the desired

environmental, social and economic outcomes for the business. This

includes the following clear commitments:

•We contribute to the global nature positive goal of “halting and

reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 from a 2020 baseline, with a

full recovery by 2050”.

•We do not explore or extract resources within the boundaries of

UNESCO World Heritage sites. All reasonable steps will be taken

to ensure future operations adjacent to World Heritage sites are

not incompatible with the outstanding universal value for which

these sites are listed and do not put the integrity of these sites at

risk.

•We respect legally designated protected areas and ensure any

new operations or changes to existing operations are not

incompatible with the objectives for which the protected areas

were established.

•We do not undertake deep-sea mining, and believe it should not

take place unless comprehensive scientific research refutes

currently held evidence that it will create significant environmental

and socioeconomic implications.

Performance and targets

Our nature target program is a core component of our nature

framework and one of the ways we plan to contribute to a nature

positive future. The program acknowledges the interconnectedness

of the realms of nature – air, land and water - and their ties to

biodiversity, climate and society. The nature targets program

includes a set of locally focused, site improvement plans, initiated in

2025. The program seeks to enhance the transparency of our nature

risks, challenges and performance. Progress on the nature targets

will be reported annually on our website.

Water

Water is essential to life. It is inherently linked to healthy, thriving

ecosystems and communities, and holds spiritual significance to

Indigenous and land-connected Peoples all over the world. It is also

an essential resource for our operations, enabling access to

orebodies and processing of ore to provide the materials the world

needs. As water is a finite shared resource, responsible water

stewardship is critical to our business’s success. Protecting water

ensures it remains available and clean for the ecosystems and

communities that depend on it, and for stable and sustainable

operations to continue for generations.

Our commitment to responsible water stewardship is reflected

through our business strategy, standards, policies and member

association commitments.

We have developed a water risk framework that we use to

consistently identify, assess, manage and communicate water risk

across our portfolio. The framework allows us to have relevant

conversations about water threats and opportunities, informing

decisions and strategic plans, for operational and catchment-level

decisions beyond an individual site. It covers four water risk

categories:

1)water resource (issues relating to water withdrawals for

supply purposes)

2)water quality and quantity (issues relating to excess surface

water management, discharges or seepage)

3)dewatering (issues relating to groundwater withdrawals to safely

depressurise and access below water table orebodies)

4)long-term obligations (consideration of items 1-3 over long

timescales, eg post mining).

Our 2025 water risk profile shows how our exposure varies across

the four risk categories. We manage all risks in accordance with our

company standards and applicable local regulations and guidelines.

We have a library of water management controls that promote

consistent operational risk management and assurance by our

frontline asset teams and supporting second-line functions. The

controls guide and organise how we monitor, plan, use infrastructure

and adaptively manage water. Our approach to water is integrated

with our approach to communities, climate change, tailings

management and closure.

Group water risk profile (percentage of managed operations 1)

Examples of ranking

Water resource

Is there enough water available for environment needs, community

needs and our operational use?

Our iron ore port operations in the Pilbara, Western Australia, are

supplied with water from the West Pilbara Water Supply Scheme.

The scheme is vulnerable to drought, and Traditional Owner groups

have raised concerns about environmental and cultural impacts. The

water resource risk for these operations is assessed as high. Rio

Tinto is committed to enhancing water security in this region.

Water quality and quantity

Does the way we manage water onsite, or discharge excess water,

cause environmental impacts or operational constraints?

Our ilmenite mine near Havre-Saint-Pierre (HSP) in Quebec,

Canada is surrounded by ecologically and socially significant lakes

and water features. The quality and quantity risk for HSP mine is

assessed as high and excess water from the mine needs to be

carefully managed. To ensure water is released to the environment

at a suitable quality, we are working on a multi-year water

management improvement project.

Dewatering

Does the removal of water from the operational areas of our sites

impact regional aquifers or our mine plans?

Impacts associated with dewatering and water supply activities in

the Pilbara, Western Australia are recognised as a very high risk for

our business. Returning water to the aquifers impacted by our

mining activities in a controlled manner is the focus of a number of

ongoing studies. We are also continuing to work with Traditional

Owners on water management.

Long-term obligations

Do our operational activities generate long-term or ongoing

obligations related to water?

We may sometimes generate impacts that we are required to

manage over the long term, such as post-closure pit lakes in the

Pilbara, or potential seepage from our waste rock or tailings facilities

in our aluminium and copper sites. Our systems and standards aim

to ensure that risks are identified early and managed appropriately

and responsibly throughout the asset life cycle, including legacy

issues.

1. Due to rounding, the sum may not total 100%. Ratings based on 2025 assessment, excluding projects and recent lithium acquisitions. Refer to Sustainability Fact Book for additional

information.

Our water balance

Our Group water balance outlines where water was withdrawn from,

discharged to, recycled, or reused and consumed at our operations.

The reported categories correlate with the requirements of ICMM

and the Global Reporting Initiative.

We also report on our aggregated water balance for sites in water-

stressed areas. We assess water stress using the World Resources

Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas mapping tool.

For more information see our 2025 Sustainability Fact Book at riotinto.com/sustainabilityreporting

Our water performance

Our total operational withdrawals for 2025 were 1,147 gigalitres (GL)

(2024: 1,250 GL). Freshwater, or category 1 quality, withdrawals

accounted for 386 GL or 34% of this total (2024: 399 GL).

Freshwater is generally suitable for consumption with minimal

treatment required. Where possible, we aim to minimise our

extractions from water sources of this quality.

Total discharges for 2025 were 626 GL (2024: 641 GL). Total water

recycled or reused for 2025 was 374 GL (2024: 344 GL).

Our activity

We progressed several initiatives in 2025 that demonstrate our

ongoing recognition of the importance of respecting rights,

partnerships, innovation and transparency. These include:

•Implementation of the QIT Madagascar Minerals water strategy,

with transparent reporting of water management and performance

data through the 2024 Water Report and monthly dashboard, in

parallel with community-focused programs.

•Construction of Stage 1 (4 GL) Dampier desalination plant, which will

allow us to reduce our groundwater withdrawals from the Bungaroo

Aquifer in the Pilbara, Western Australia, and establishment of a

Memorandum of Understanding with the Western Australian

Government to assess feasibility for a Stage 2 plant expansion.

•Management or involvement in regional water monitoring and

engagement programs, including initiatives in Gladstone Harbour

(Queensland, Australia), Nechako Valley (British Columbia, Canada),

and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (Quebec, Canada).

•Piloting technologies for water treatment and metal recovery at

our Kennecott operation in the US, including use of plant-based

methods (phytoremediation).

•Working collaboratively with stakeholders to improve our

understanding of the cultural value of water.

•Entering a partnership with Skarn to develop an innovative water

intensity benchmarking dataset for the lithium sector.

•Updating our Surface Water Allocation Disclosure Dashboard and

continued work on an expansion of the dashboard to include

groundwater information in 2026.

For more information see riotinto.com/water

Biodiversity

Biodiversity underpins the ecosystems that sustain life, livelihoods,

and economies. For Rio Tinto, healthy ecosystems are critical – not

only for supporting ecological communities but also for ensuring

operational resilience. Our mining activities often intersect with

areas of high ecological value, and the industry relies on ecosystem

services such as clean water and air, erosion control, and climate

stability.

We recognise the potential impacts of our activities on biodiversity

and are committed to achieving no net loss (NNL) or a net gain (Net

Positive Impact, NPI) to biodiversity, measured against a 2020

baseline, by the end of closure.

Rio Tinto’s approach to biodiversity management is embedded in

Environment Standards and aligned with global frameworks,

including the Global Reporting Initiative. We apply the mitigation

hierarchy - avoid, minimise, rehabilitate and offset - to prioritise

avoidance across all stages of the mining lifecycle, including

exploration, project development, operations and closure.

Where impacts cannot be avoided, we implement mitigation and

rehabilitation measures. Where applicable, offsets are initiated early

in the project life cycle and developed in consultation with

stakeholders to address residual impacts. Recent updates to our

exploration procedures have improved the capture and reporting of

avoidance actions as part of tenure management. Additionally,

enhancements to our Studies guidance will strengthen the

integration of mitigation, offsetting and avoidance measures during

project initiation.

We maintain asset-level biodiversity action plans, addressing priority

species – including those listed on the International Union for

Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. These efforts are guided

by site-specific assessments and inclusive engagement with

stakeholders, particularly Indigenous and land-connected

communities.

Globally, one of the central challenges for business is establishing

scalable approaches to assess the condition of nature. We actively

participate in industry and cross-sectoral forums to advance our

methodologies to measure no net loss or net gain to biodiversity

across our operations; this includes the ICMM Nature Working

Group.

Our strategic partnerships with Proteus (UNEP-WCMC) and BirdLife

International continued, allowing us to contribute to, and benefit

from, global biodiversity expertise. We also had the opportunity to

sponsor the Western Australia Biodiversity Conference, and

participate in the UNEP-WCMC Nature Action Dialogues.

Through 2025, Rio Tinto continued to strengthen its biodiversity

management approach, translating our nature positive commitments

into tangible actions across our global operations. Guided by the

ICMM Nature Position Statement and aligned with emerging global

frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial

Disclosures (TNFD), we focused on building robust baselines,

piloting measurement methodologies, enhancing transparency and

investing in conservation partnerships that deliver ecological

benefits beyond our operational footprint.

We actively participated in the Nature Positive Initiative (NPI) Pilot

Program for our Pilbara Iron Ore and Oyu Tolgoi copper assets,

supported by our piloting partner BirdLife International. This initiative

tested draft global terrestrial biodiversity metrics using site-specific

and public data to assess the current and 2020 baseline state of

nature through real-world case studies. The results will contribute to

NPI’s further refinement of recommended metrics and guidance

material in 2026.

Environmental data collection at our assets continues to inform our

understanding of the ecological context within and surrounding our

operational footprint, and it is a critical step toward measuring

progress against no net loss. In alignment with our Environment

Standards, these monitoring activities are shaped by regulatory

requirements and host community engagement. In 2025, we

continued a portfolio-wide program to develop biodiversity baselines

and an NNL prioritisation framework aligned with global best

practice principles and ICMM commitments.

To further support our baselining and state-of-nature measurement

efforts, we conducted a comprehensive review of publicly available

data and tools. Using NNL/NPI calculation methodologies and a

suite of global guidance and reference documents, we derived

insights into the 2020 ecosystem extent, condition and species

presence across key assets in Australia, Asia, Africa and Canada.

This generated a detailed technical understanding of available tools

applicable to a global footprint that encompasses a wide range of

biomes.

Additional Conservation Actions (ACAs) play a complementary role

in strengthening our biodiversity management approach, particularly

where opportunities remain to uplift ecological outcomes after

applying mitigation processes. ACAs help deliver broader ecological

benefits beyond our operational footprint, be that supporting species

recovery, enhancing ecosystem resilience or enhancing

understanding of our natural environment. In 2025, we initiated and

continued several key projects, such as our Pilbara Conservation

Project, Founders Factory Start-up Partnerships for Sustainability

and the North Queensland Land and Sea Program. Visit our website

for more information.

For more information see riotinto.com/biodiversity

Land

Effective land management is essential to minimising environmental

impacts and supporting sustainable mining operations. Key activities

include planning and managing land use to reduce disturbance,

implementing progressive rehabilitation during the life of mine, and

restoring ecosystems post-closure. We focus on soil conservation,

erosion control, and revegetation practices, while engaging with

stakeholders to align land use with community and environmental

values. These efforts ensure responsible stewardship of land

resources and contribute tolong-term environmental resilience.

In 2025, we rehabilitated 26 km 2 of land, mostly at our Argyle

diamond mine in Australia, Simandou project in Guinea and iron ore

mines and exploration areas in the Pilbara.

In Mongolia, we rehabilitated another 6 km² of abandoned mine

workings outside our operational footprint, near the Tsagaan Zur

river in the Selenge province. This effort supports Oyu Tolgoi’s

commitment to the Government of Mongolia’s national initiative to

plant one billion trees by 2030. We established and handed over

another 3 tree nurseries in the South Gobi to the local community,

with a combined capacity to produce an additional one million

saplings annually. We planted 1.6 million trees and awarded 5 more

scholarships to students pursuing forestry studies.

Throughout the last year, we continued to transform commitments

into action. We developed a number of site improvement plans

focused on land stewardship for priority operations as part of the

implementation of our nature targets program.

At the end of the year, our land footprint – total disturbed area – was

1,818 km 2, an increase of 56 km 2 from 2024. This includes all

disturbances at our operating assets and activities, such as

exploration activities, smelters, mines and supporting infrastructure.

The majority of disturbance occurred at Weipa and Simandou as a

result of the establishment of new mining areas.

Our rehabilitation and closure teams continue to partner with

research centres to refine our approaches and improve outcomes.

At our bauxite mines and refineries, we have progressed trials

focusing on transforming stored tailings material into soils that will

support plant growth. To strengthen monitoring of rehabilitated

areas, we advanced trials of digital tools designed to complement

traditional on-ground data collection.

In addition, 14 of our operations completed rehabilitation

trials aimed at improving seed germination, reducing erosion

and enhancing topsoil quality – critical factors for

rehabilitation success.

For more information about our closure work see page 51.

Waste

As the global population continues to grow and industrialise,

effective management of waste materials is expected to become

increasingly important for people and nature. Rio Tinto produces

materials that play an important role in the economy while managing

mineral and non-mineral materials responsibly. We strive to enhance

our approach to materials management practices by designing out

waste where possible, keeping resources in use longer, and safely

and responsibly disposing of wastes across our business and value

chain.

Our mineral waste generation and disposal volumes have remained

similar over the past 5 years, however there is more annual

variability in non-mineral waste volumes and disposals, which is

largely driven by mine development and closure activities. Looking

ahead, we aim to maximise resource efficiency while eliminating

waste and recovering valuable materials. We will continue to explore

circular solutions and innovative ways to manage materials.

For more information about tailings see page 51.

Air quality

Clean air is essential for the health of ecosystems and host

communities that surround our operations. Emissions such as

particulates and gases have the potential to impact air quality and

the atmosphere, so we have a responsibility to ensure they are

managed in line with regulations and stakeholder expectations.

Some emissions can be hazardous and require careful monitoring

and management. The potentially hazardous emissions we monitor

at operations are:

•sulphur oxides (SOx), mainly at our aluminium and copper smelters

•nitrogen oxides (NOx), mainly from burning fossil fuels

•gaseous fluoride emissions from aluminium smelters

•respirable particulate emissions (PM 10 and PM 2.5) - very fine particles

from mining and processing operations and from burning fossil fuels.

We apply the mitigation hierarchy across all phases of the mining

life cycle to keep air emissions within acceptable limits. Our first

priority is to avoid generating emissions wherever possible.

Progress on decarbonisation initiatives has supported reductions in

air pollutants, including the installation of solar power, heat recovery

systems, and the use of renewable fuels.

Many of our hazardous emission levels have remained relatively

stable over the past 5 years (NOx, SOx, fluoride), though we have

seen a slight increase in PM 10 values over the past 3 years. We aim

to reduce point source emissions by upgrading equipment with best-

available technologies and incorporating control technology

evaluations into capital projects. Proper operation and maintenance

of assets is critical to minimising emissions, though some inevitably

leave our sites. We implement and expand air monitoring networks

inside and outside our site boundaries.

Operational environment overview

1. Significant environmental incident is an incident with an actual consequence rating of high or very high. We measure and rate incidents according to their actual environmental and

compliance impacts using 5 severity categories: very low, low, moderate, high and very high. Very high and high environmental incidents are usually reported to the relevant product

group head and the Rio Tinto Chief Executive as soon as possible.

2. In 2025, we received environmental fines and administrative penalties relating to contaminant releases, permitting non compliances, discharge exceedances and failures to meet

regulatory requirements across several operations. At Yarwun in Australia, regulators issued two penalty infringement notices for contaminant releases involving saline effluent from a

pipeline and the discharge of bauxite washwater slurry from a wharf. In Canada, the Vaudreuil plant received non compliances under the Environmental Quality Act and hazardous

materials regulations, the Roberval/Port Alfred site was cited for delayed incident reporting, and the Arvida plant exceeded discharge criteria for toxicity and hydrocarbons and received a

non compliance relating to environmental operating conditions. Further administrative penalties were issued at Havre Saint Pierre and Lac Tio for inadequate project construction

authorisations and containment infrastructure maintenance practices, delayed reporting of permit exceedances, and unauthorized disposal of residual materials, along with federal

penalties related to 2023 effluent exceedances and sampling errors during an unauthorized discharge. In the United States, enforcement actions continued under the Wilmington

operations consent decree. Following extensive investigations at Kennecott Copper, historical permitting non-compliances related to water containment failures and upset conditions was

resolved through a monetary penalty, with no detectable contamination identified. Separately, at Rotterdam operations in Europe, a transporter was fined for non compliant hazardous

goods labelling under EU ADR regulations during shipment of product in France.

3. A reduction in cumulative disturbance from 2023-2024 is a result of the sale of Dampier Salt Limited’s Lake MacLeod operation.

Note: The numbers may change year to year and retrospectively due to reconciliations of data.

Tailings

We engage with stakeholders throughout the life cycle of our tailings

storage facilities (TSFs), from design to closure. We also collaborate

closely with external bodies to improve the way tailings are

managed across our industry.

We operate 111 TSFs across our global assets. Of the 111 TSFs, 40

are active, 24 are inactive and 47 are closed.

We work through technical committees and joint venture

relationships to support leading practice in tailings management.

Our full tailings disclosure is available on our website. We

periodically update the list of TSFs to reflect operational and

ownership changes. These include changes due to the transition to

closure or remediation obligations for legacy assets, and

reclassification of facilities.

Our facilities are regulated and permitted and have been managed

for many years to comply with local laws, regulations, permits,

licences and other requirements. Tailings management has been

included in the Group risk register since 2010, and our Group safety

standard for tailings and water storage facilities has been in place

since 2015. Our internal assurance processes verify that our

managed TSFs operate in accordance with this standard, which we

updated in 2021.

Our TSFs have emergency response plans – tested through training

exercises in collaboration with stakeholders such as local

emergency services – and follow strict business resilience and

communication protocols.

We have continued to progress our implementation of the Global

Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM). This focuses

on preventing tailings facility failures, reducing the social and

environmental impacts of tailings facilities, and improving

engagement and transparency on tailings with local communities.

We have also assessed our progress on implementation through

self-assessment and independent audits, using ICMM’s GISTM

Conformance Protocols.

In 2025, we achieved full GISTM conformance for the “Very High”

and “Extreme” consequence classification tailings facilities, and for

the majority of the “Low”, “Significant” and “High” consequence

facilities.

Our product group and Closure teams will continue to work towards

full conformance and we will report our performance yearly in

accordance with the GISTM requirements.

In August 2025, in accordance with Principle 15 of the GISTM, we

updated our public tailings disclosures for the 14 “Very High” and

“Extreme” TSFs we operate and published new information on a

further 84 tailings facilities rated “Low”, “High” or “Significant”.

For more information see riotinto.com/tailings

•We continued to regularly convene the Tailings Management

Committee with our designated Accountable Executives. This

provides coordinated governance of tailings management

practices across the Group.

•We continued to play an active role in the ICMM tailings working

group, which provides guidance to support the safe, responsible

management of tailings with the goal of eliminating fatalities and

catastrophic events.

Closure

We are committed to being responsible operators throughout the

entire life of our assets, delivering value at every stage – from

discovery to closure.

Today, we plan for the end right from the beginning, incorporating

closure in each stage of the asset life cycle in the way we design,

build and operate.

We work with communities, governments and other stakeholders to

complete closure activities and repurpose and renew sites for their

next use.

At the end of 2025, closure provisions on our balance sheet totalled

$17.8 billion (2024:$15.7 billion).

In 2025, we continued to advance delivery of our major closure projects

in Australia and management of our global legacy portfolio.

Argyle diamond mine

We continue rehabilitating the former Argyle diamond mine on

Miriwoong and Gija country in Western Australia. We have made

significant progress on reprofiling the former processing plant area,

and waste rock dumps, and capping the tailings storage facility. We

have now passed beyond 85% overall project completion, and the

removal of the Argyle mine accommodation facilities, utilities

infrastructure and airport is nearly complete.

We are continuing to review our contracting strategy to focus on

work awarded to Traditional Owner businesses, spending

A$47.1 million in 2025 (2024: A$44.9 million).

Gove refinery and residue disposal areas

While bauxite mining operations continue until the end of the

decade, we are progressing demolition of the Gove alumina refinery

and rehabilitation work on the former bauxite residue disposal areas

(BRDA), a type of tailings storage facility, on the lands of the Yolŋu

peoples in the Northern Territory of Australia.

In 2025, we completed demolition of the remaining large structures

of the refinery. Working with Traditional Owners, and through careful

planning, we took measures to ensure the protection of an important

cultural heritage site during demolition activity, understanding its

importance to the Yolŋu. We have processed around 127,000

tonnes of scrap steel for recycling since 2023. We continue to

advance soil remediation of the refinery site as we work towards

final landform and revegetating the area.

We are progressing rehabilitation work of the former BRDAs,

completing civil works on Pond 5 to prepare for monitoring and

maintenance, and starting work on Pond 6 South, working with a

Traditional Owner business on enabling works.

We launched a pilot housing demolition program for properties

unsuitable to be retained, to create opportunities for local builders to

develop new and diverse housing on vacant, serviced lots. Work to

upgrade services such as sewer lines, power and water

is also underway.

We are developing programs that build local capability and

resilience, including partnering with schools to offer virtual work

experience opportunities for young people.

We continue to be an active member of the Gove Peninsula Future

Reference Group along with Traditional Owners, Northern Territory

and Commonwealth governments, and the Northern Land Council,

to support planning for the region’s future and helping transition to a

post-mining future.

Ranger Rehabilitation Project

We continue to operate under the Management Services Agreement

(MSA) with Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA) to manage the

Ranger Rehabilitation Project with oversight from the ERA board.

The former Ranger uranium mine is located on the traditional lands

of the Mirarr People in the Northern Territory. The MSA builds on

ERA’s existing rehabilitation efforts and enables us to share our

technical expertise in the design, planning and execution of closure

projects, including managing stakeholder engagement and delivery

partner relationships.

Rio Tinto holds approximately 98.43% of ERA’s shares and in April

2025, we began the compulsory acquisition process to acquire the

remaining shares in ERA. In May 2025, objections were lodged

during the objection period by the holders of at least 10% of the ERA

shares subject to the acquisition notice. We have applied for court

approval of the proposed compulsory acquisition of the remaining

shares in ERA, and the matter remains before the court.

In 2025, we progressed Pit 3 dry capping, installing geotextile

and beginning the initial dry capping layers. We continue to

face challenges in drying the tailings surface and are assessing

engineering options and solutions to continue the capping

works in 2026. Other aspects of the project are making good

progress including environmental management, regulatory

approvals, stakeholder engagement, land tenure negotiations

and technical studies.

We remain committed to the rehabilitation of the Ranger Project

Area to a standard that will establish an environment similar to the

adjacent Kakadu National Park, a World Heritage site. We continue

to work with all key stakeholders, including the Mirarr People, to

complete this important rehabilitation project.

Legacy assets

We manage over 90 legacy assets in 9 countries and 30 tailings

storage facilities (TSF) across our portfolio.

We have achieved safe closure status at Argyle TSFs ATD 1, ATD 2

and ATD 3 at the former Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia

and the Kelian in-pit TSF at Kelian in Indonesia. At Holden and

Ridgeway in the US, Kelian Namuk in Indonesia, and Segoussac in

France, TSF risks are considered as low as reasonably practicable,

demonstrating improvement in risk management.

For more information on tailings management, see page 51.

We continue to progress execution and enabling work across the

global legacy portfolio to meet our commitments. In 2025:

•We started phase 2 of our rehabilitation work at Dammarie-lès-

Lys in France. Work includes removal of contaminated soil,

enabling the site for repurposing. To reduce impacts due to dust,

noise and traffic to the nearby community, work will be completed

under a tent.

•We restarted rehabilitation work at Salindres in France. Work

includes land shaping, reinforcement of a dyke, capping and

improved water management.

•We progressed regulatory approval for our remediation plan at

Beatson, a series of former copper mines in Alaska, US, which

enables us to prepare for execution.

•We continued to review our portfolio for commercial opportunities,

completing the surrender of the lease of land at the Anglesey site

in Wales, UK. This site is a former aluminium smelter

decommissioned in 2013, with voluntary remediation works

completed from 2018 to 2024, enabling the area for

redevelopment.

Our approach

Where relevant, all of our operating sites have closure plans, and

we are developing closure plans for assets that have an indefinite

life, such as some port facilities. We review these plans regularly to

align with stakeholder expectations and to incorporate lessons

learned from other closure projects. At operations with joint

ownership structures, we endeavour to work in partnership with

other asset owners to ensure we consider closure through asset

design, planning and operations. Further review and update of

closure planning at Arcadium assets will be carried out to ensure

they are consistent with Rio Tinto requirements.

While planning for closure currently starts when we first design a

mine, we start more detailed planning at least a decade before we

expect an operation will close.

In 2025, we met our guidance provided to the market in 2024,

spending ~$1 billion on closure activities as we progressively

rehabilitate our operations and progress work at Argyle, Ranger, the

Gove alumina refinery and legacy sites.

For more information about our closure risks see page 96, and for more on closure provisions and financial statements, see page 163.

Partnering for the future

We work to solve the challenges of the future to reduce our liabilities

and create better outcomes.

We continued partnering with research and academic organisations,

start-ups and technology solutions providers to

find better ways to close and repurpose our assets. These include

opportunities to reprocess mineral and industrial residues,

selectively recover minerals from mine-influenced waters, augment

our knowledge base for closure, and improve execution and

monitoring of rehabilitation and revegetation.

•We continued our partnership with SiTration, a Massachusetts

Institute of Technology mining start-up, to remediate and unlock

value from mine-influenced waters.

•We have been collaborating with the Australian National

University to develop an advanced filtration system, inspired by

nature, that can recover critical resources such as copper and

lithium from mining wastewater, while simultaneously turning dirty

water into clean water.

•We have been working with university partners in Europe to

recover critical minerals and remediate alkaline seepage from

bauxite residue deposit areas.

•We have been trialling AI-driven workflows and remotely operated

platforms to help us track our progress and predict trajectories

towards rehabilitation and closure completion criteria on mine

sites, combining in situ and remote sensing.