Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation. It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government. It has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, it also has significant operations in refining, particularly the refining of bauxite and iron ore. It has joint head offices in London, England and Melbourne, Australia.
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about 120 miles (190 km) east to west and 200 miles (320 km) north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate.
Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. The company was first formed in 1898 as the Boston Consolidated Mining Company. The current corporation was formed in 1989. The mine and associated smelter produce 1% of the world's copper.
Vale S.A., formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, is a Brazilian multinational corporation engaged in metals and mining and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. Vale is the largest producer of iron ore and nickel in the world. It also produces manganese, ferroalloys, copper, bauxite, potash, kaolin, and cobalt, currently operating nine hydroelectricity plants, and a large network of railroads, ships, and ports used to transport its products.
Consol Energy Inc. is an American energy company with interests in coal headquartered in the suburb of Cecil Township, in the Southpointe complex, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2017, Consol formed two separate entities: CNX Resources Corporation and CONSOL Energy Inc. While CNX Resources Corp. focuses on natural gas, spin-off Consol Mining Corporation, now Consol Energy Inc. focuses on coal. In 2010, Consol was the leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States and the U.S.'s largest underground coal mining company. The company employs more than 1,600 people.
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States.
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, is a multinational aluminium company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China. It is a public company, listed in Hong Kong and in New York. In 2021, it was the world's largest aluminum producer, ahead of China Hongqiao Group, Rusal and Shandong Xinfa.
Rio Tinto Coal Australia (RTCA) was an Australian coal mining organisation, that was part of the worldwide Rio Tinto Group. In 2018, Rio Tinto completed the sale of its remaining assets
Patriot Coal Corporation was a coal-mining company based in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. The company is a spin-off of most of the Eastern U.S. operations of Peabody Energy.
Arch Resources, previously known as Arch Coal, is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Resources is the second-largest supplier of coal in the United States, behind Peabody Energy. As of 2011 the company supplied 15% of the domestic market. Demand comes mainly from generators of electricity.
The Black Thunder Coal Mine is a surface coal mine in the U.S. state of Wyoming, located in the Powder River Basin which contains one of the largest deposits of coal in the world. Black Thunder is the second most productive mine in the United States, providing the US with 8% of its coal supply. In 2007, the mine produced 86,196,275 short tons of coal, nearly 20% of Wyoming's total coal production, and higher than 23 other individual coal producing states.
Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf Lundin and operated by Lukas Lundin. While it was incorporated to pursue an interest in a diamond mine in Brazil, the company re-structured and raised funds to develop the Storliden mine in Sweden. It purchased the Swedish Zinkgruvan Mine from Rio Tinto and then merged with Arcon International Resources for its Galmoy Mine in Ireland and Eurozinc for its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal. The company subsequently purchased and operated the Eagle mine, Candelaria mine, and Chapada mine.
The mineral industry of Mozambique plays a significant role in the world's production of aluminium, beryllium, and tantalum. In 2006, Mozambique's share of the world's tantalum mine output amounted to 6%; beryllium, 5%; and aluminium, 2%. Other domestically significant mineral processing operations included cement and natural gas.
NERCO was an American mining company headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with interests in coal, natural gas, and oil. The company also had significant operations in gold and silver mining, and manufacture of gallium arsenide wafers.
Rio Tinto Energy America (RTEA) was a wholly owned American subsidiary of the England and Australia-based mining giant, the Rio Tinto Group, headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming, United States. The company, previously known as Kennecott Energy after another of Rio Tinto's American subsidiaries, was formed in 1993 when Rio Tinto purchased NERCO and placed that company's Spring Creek coal mine and Antelope coal mine under the RTEA umbrella. Subsequent acquisitions included the Cordero Mining Company, the Colowyo Coal Company, and the Jacobs Ranch coal mine. RTEA operated four mines in Wyoming and Montana, supplying fuel for the generation of approximately 6% of the United States' electricity consumption. The RTEA mines were spun off to Cloud Peak Energy in 2010.
Jacobs Ranch is a large open-pit coal mine located 15 miles southeast of Wright, Wyoming in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. In 2007, the mine produced 38.1 million short tons of coal, making it the fourth-largest coal mine by production in the United States.
The Belle Ayr mine is a coal mine located 18 miles southeast of Gillette, Wyoming in the United States in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. The mine is an open pit, "truck and shovel", mine producing a low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from the Wyodak-Anderson seam that is used for domestic energy generation. Coal produced by the mine is shipped to its customers via railroad. The mine is owned and operated by Blackjewel LLC after being acquired from Contura energy in 2017.
Turquoise Hill Resources was a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and a majority-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The company was called Ivanhoe Mines until August 2, 2012 when a financing agreement was completed with Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto acquired full ownership of Turquoise Hill in December 2022.
÷Some of the more notable coal companies in Australia are the following:
The Kestrel Coal Mine is an underground coal mine located in the Bowen Basin at Crinum, 51 km northeast of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 158 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 4 million tonnes of coal. Both hard/semi hard coking coal and thermal coal is mined.
