Mining giant Rio Tinto has reported its strongest first-half financial results since 2022, but the biggest story is not the record earnings—it is the company’s changing profit engine. Driven by surging demand from data centers, electrification, and the energy transition, copper and aluminum generated more earnings than the company’s traditional iron ore business for the first time.
Underlying earnings for the six months ended June 30 rose 43% year-on-year to $6.85 billion, closely matching the Visible Alpha consensus forecast of $6.8 billion. Rio Tinto also declared an interim dividend of $2.11 per share, its highest payout in four years.
Copper and aluminum now account for 56% of Rio Tinto’s total earnings. The copper division delivered an 84% increase in underlying EBITDA, reaching $5.7 billion, while earnings from the iron ore business slipped 1% to $6.8 billion. The company is following a trend already highlighted by BHP, which reported earlier this year that copper had become a larger earnings contributor than iron ore.
Chief Executive Officer Simon Trott, who is in his first year leading the company, described the results as a significant improvement in operational performance. He highlighted productivity gains across the business and pointed to rising demand for copper and lithium from data centers and grid-scale energy storage systems.
Chief Financial Officer Peter Cunningham said Rio Tinto’s productivity program generated $870 million in benefits during the first half despite higher diesel prices and a stronger Australian dollar. The company expects annualized savings to reach $1.8 billion by the end of the year.
Andy Forster, Portfolio Manager at Argo Investments, said the results were broadly in line with market expectations but noted the absence of major announcements regarding portfolio optimization. In December, Rio Tinto pledged to unlock between $5 billion and $10 billion through portfolio management and infrastructure initiatives. On Wednesday, the company clarified that roughly half of that value is expected to be realized by the end of this year. One planned step is the sale of its stake in a desalination plant in Western Australia, although financial details have not been disclosed.
Trott also addressed proposals from some Australian producers to establish a unified iron ore marketing arrangement in response to growing pressure from China. He said Rio Tinto remains focused on its own business and on pursuing operational synergies with neighboring producers rather than supporting an industry-wide marketing initiative.
The only note of caution concerned the company’s climate strategy. Rio Tinto warned that its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2018 levels by 2030 depends on the timely delivery of third-party renewable energy projects and commercial agreements that cannot be guaranteed. Production and sales guidance for 2026 remains unchanged.
Rio Tinto’s latest results mark the end of iron ore’s long-standing dominance within the company’s earnings profile. Copper, aluminum, and lithium are taking center stage, with demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, battery manufacturing, and electrification increasingly replacing China’s steel industry as the primary driver of growth.
Source: MINING.COM
Image: Rio Tinto
