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International 20 Issue One 2008 crusher. The crusher breaks down the boul- ders of up to 1.5 metres in diameter into lumps about the size of a football. It is then transferred to a secondary crusher where it is broken down into grapefruit-sized pieces. As for Rio Tinto it is a leading interna- tional mining group headquartered in the United Kingdom, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London listed company, and Rio Tinto Lim- ited, which is listed on the Australian Securi- ties Exchange. Rio Tinto’s business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminum, copper, dia- monds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, in- dustrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Aus- tralia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa. Rio Tinto is set to purchase three new 250,000 deadweight tonne ore carriers to transport iron ore from its mines in the Pil- bara in Western Australia (and potentially from Simandou in Guinea) to customers in China and elsewhere. The Group has also re- served rights on another two vessels of simi- lar size. The vessels, to be built by Namura Shipyards in Japan and delivered from late 2012, will play a critical role in consolidating Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s leadership position in the global market. They will help Rio Tinto build upon its natural freight advantage in Asian exports. China’s iron ore imports have grown sub- stantially in recent years and are forecast to continue to grow strongly with the potential to more than double post 2010. To main- tain and increase its share of this growth, Rio Tinto Iron Ore is expanding the capacity of its Pilbara iron ore operations to 220 million tonnes by 2009, supported by long term con- tracts, hybrid contracts and spot sales. A spokesperson for the company says Rio Tinto’s exceptional growth strategy in iron ore and its strong pricing outlook would al- low the Group to build a conceptual path- way to treble production to over 600 million tonnes of iron ore per annum from Australia and Guinea. “Over the past 12 months we have produced over 40% more than the next largest producer in the region.” On the local road transportation scene, running a reliable iron ore haulage business in the remote areas of Western Australia takes a special breed of operator. Especially if that operator wishes to consistently meet their customers’ high tonnage targets. We met that operator on a recent field trip to Geraldton, in particular Michael Patience, who is the operations manager of Patience Bulk Haulage. The company in its present state was formed in 1994 by John and Nola, however the Patience family’s association with the Western Australian mining and haulage in- dustry spans some 40 years. When the busi- ness started John, Michael and Paul all drove trucks. Having - ‘been there done that’ - they knew and understood the difficulties their drivers and customers face in outback areas. Each 92 gross tonne side tipping roadtrain moves iron ore on a continuous 24 hour shift, 1,600 kilometres each day. Photos:BHPBilliton It takes patience Rio Tinto consolidates their global position