Rio Tinto chairman warns mining deals won’t solve supply crisis

Dominic Barton speaks to a Vancouver audience. Image: Vancouver Board of Trade
The world needs more mines to cope with rising demand for key energy-transition metals like copper, as mergers and acquisitions will not plug a looming supply gap, Rio Tinto group chairman Dominic Barton said.

“As an industry, we’re not going to inorganic our way out of this challenge,” Barton said in a Bloomberg TV interview, referring to growth through deals. “It’s huge, and it’s in at least five different commodity areas.”

Global mining M&A has ramped up over recent months, as healthy cash flows and the outlook for key green energy metals encourage the rapid addition of extra production. BHP Group Ltd. has been among the most active, swooping on Filo Corp. after the world’s biggest miner’s $49 billion bid for Anglo American Plc was rebuffed.

Rio, however, has been quiet in the dealmaking space, instead allocating hundreds of millions into exploration with a focus on copper and lithium. Still, Barton said the company was “looking at opportunities”.

“We’re just going to have to build more,” he said. “We’re going to need to mine, discover, and mine more copper in the next 30 years.”

(By Paul-Alain Hunt and Stephen Engle)