Industrial Minerals


Talk from the Top:“We have not moved away from industrial minerals”

May 2012

by Jack Elliott

Xiaoling Liu, recently appointed CEO of Rio Tinto Minerals, spoke to IM about the company’s industrial minerals projects, strategies and markets

Keywords: Rio Tinto Minerals, borates, titanium dioxide, tio2, salt, lithium,

Xiaoling Liu, CEO of Rio Tinto Minerals Rio Tinto MineralsWhat strategies do you have as the division’s new CEO?Firstly, I would like to say I am not someone to come in and say: “I am the new CEO, these are my strategies,” before I understand the business. And in particular coming into a very successful business. It has more than 100 years’ history, and a very successful one. The company has pioneered to bring the benefit of borates into modern life. I have been looking at how the company has been progressing over the past 100 years, and considering where the potential markets are to supply. I would like to continue in the company’s tradition.What are RTM’s industrial minerals projects? What are your forecasts for each of these markets?Our number one project is our Serbian lithium-borate deposit, which is a unique deposit and provides opportunity to expand into lithium, which...