Biodiversity

Rio Tinto aims to make a net positive impact on biodiversity (biological diversity) at our operating sites around the world.  This is an ambitious goal.  Few companies in the world have made a similar commitment.

In order to help achieve our biodiversity objectives, we have adopted the following "biodiversity mitigation hierarchy":

• We avoid unacceptable impacts to species and ecosystems of the highest conservation value.  For example, in Madagascar, Rio Tinto is foregoing 12 % of its ilmenite claim in order to avoid impacts to species that are important for conservation.
• We minimize and mitigate our impacts to biodiversity: by carefully planning our projects, and adopting leading environmental practices, we reduce our biodiversity impacts to the smallest amount practicable.
• We restore our mine sites: Rio Tinto is a world leader in restoring biodiversity to sites that have been previously disturbed by mining.
• We implement voluntary conservation projects: even after we have avoided unacceptable impacts, minimized our necessary impacts, and restored our mine sites, some biodiversity impacts from mining are still inevitable. In order to achieve our aim of having a net positive impact on biodiversity, we therefore invest in voluntary conservation projects to compensate for these unavoidable impacts.

Rio Tinto - La Granja is developing a biodiversity strategy for the La Granja site, based on the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy. The strategy will develop a plan to:

• Meet or exceed international best practices for biodiversity management.
• Achieve a net positive impact to biodiversity, should the mine become operational.

We will also meet or exceed Peru's regulatory requirements pertaining to biodiversity, for example, the environmental impact assessment process.

An independent environmental advisory committee composed of some of Peru's leading conservation scientists will oversee the development and implementation of Rio Tinto - La Granja's biodiversity strategy.

Please return to this site regularly to check for updates as we report on our progress.