Article Breakdown 1. Financial Times 2. Sunday Times/Times 3. Bloomberg 4. National newspapers (Telegraph, Guardian, City AM etc) 5. Australian media 6. Other international media 7. Trade media (Mining journal/miningweek.com etc) 8. Newswires Leaked Emails Rio Tinto contacts regulatory authorities 9 November 2016 On 29 August 2016, Rio Tinto became aware of email correspondence from 2011 relating to contractual payments totalling US$10.5 million made to a consultant providing advisory services on the Simandou project in Guinea. The company launched an investigation into the matter led by external counsel. Based on the investigation to date, Rio Tinto has today notified the relevant authorities in the United Kingdom and United States and is in the process of contacting the Australian authorities. Energy & Minerals chief executive Alan Davies, who had accountability for the Simandou project in 2011, has been suspended with immediate effect. Legal & Regulatory Affairs group executive Debra Valentine, having previously notified the company of her intention to retire on 1 May 2017, has stepped down from her role. Rio Tinto intends to co-operate fully with any subsequent inquiries from all of the relevant authorities. Further comment at this time is therefore not appropriate. Senior management changes 16 November 2016 Rio Tinto today terminated the contracts of Energy & Minerals chief executive Alan Davies and Legal & Regulatory Affairs Group executive Debra Valentine. The Rio Tinto board reviewed the findings to date of an internal investigation into 2011 contractual arrangements with a consultant who provided advisory services on the Simandou project in Guinea. The board's decision does not pre-judge the course of any external inquiries into this matter. However, the board concluded that the executives failed to maintain the standards expected of them under our global code of conduct, The way we work. In the circumstances, the board terminated the contracts of both executives. In accordance with contract termination, neither executive will be eligible for any short-term incentive plan awards for 2016. Rio Tinto will also cancel all unvested incentive plan awards from previous years. As previously announced, Rio Tinto contacted the regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States about the matter and intends to fully cooperate with any subsequent inquiries. Further comment at this time is therefore not appropriate. Alan Davies will be replaced by Bold Baatar, who will join the Executive Committee as Energy & Minerals chief executive. Bold held a number of senior investment banking roles with JP Morgan before taking on chief executive positions with a gold mining company and a diversified investment management business in Mongolia. He joined Rio Tinto in 2013 as Copper International Operations president and is the managing director of Marine and vice president Iron Ore Sales and Marketing. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said "Appointing Bold to run our Energy & Minerals business will add a fresh perspective to the product group. Bold brings broad international and executive experience in a wide range of commercial disciplines. He has a proven track record and will be a great addition to our ExCo, particularly with his strong strategic approach and acute understanding of Asia." Bold's biography is available at www.riotinto.com/ExecutiveCommittee. Chief financial officer Chris Lynch has temporarily assumed accountability for the corporate Legal & Regulatory Affairs function. The recruitment process for a new chief legal counsel has commenced. Financial Times Date: 21.11.16 Client: BSG Publication: Financial Times Date: 19.11.16 Client: BSG Publication: Financial Times Rio adviser’s links to Guinea president raise bribery questions Regulator looking at whether miner broke anti-corruption law over mine negotiations by: Neil Hume and Tom Burgis The former Lazard banker who helped Rio Tinto secure rights to a giant iron ore deposit in Guinea was also working as an informal adviser to the country’s president and had access to “highly confidential” information. The disclosure raises the question of whether the Anglo-American mining company broke anti-corruption laws when it paid François Polge de Combret $10.5m in 2011 for assisting in negotiations on the Simandou project. Lawyers and academics said the payment could lead to investigations by US and UK regulators. “I think it is likely the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission would consider a payment to such an individual problematic,” said Mike Koehler of Southern Illinois University, an expert on US anti-corruption law. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office is evaluating whether to launch an investigation into the payment, according to one person close to situation. Rio has alerted authorities including the SFO and the DoJ about the payment and last week fired Alan Davies, the head of its energy and minerals business, who was previously in charge of the project, and Debra Valentine, its legal chief. The company has not said why it reported the fee but emails from 2011 posted online in August showed senior Rio executives discussing the payment to Mr de Combret and his “closeness” to Guinea’s president Alpha Condé. Guinea has called on Rio to provide a full account of any malpractice identified in the company’s dealings with the government. “Statements to the media from Rio Tinto have suggested that Mr de Combret was in the pay of Rio Tinto during high-level negotiations between the company and the Guinean government,” said Abdoulaye Magassouba, minister of mines and geology, in a statement. “Mr de Combret was at the time acting in a capacity that would have given him access to highly confidential information.” A spokesman for the government of Guinea confirmed that Mr de Combret acted as an informal adviser to Mr Condé between 2011 and 2014. Another person familiar with the situation said that while Mr de Combret was not a government official he was as “uncompensated adviser” to the president. Rio has been involved in several fierce legal battles since it began exploring Simandou, one of the world’s biggest untapped deposits of iron ore, 20 years ago. It lost half the rights to the project in 2008 and only managed to hold on to the rest in 2011 through a $700m payment to the then new government of Mr Condé — a deal which, the leaked emails indicate, Mr de Combret helped to facilitate. The ex-Lazard banker declined to comment. In one of the emails, Mr Davies tells former Rio chief executive Sam Walsh that Mr de Combret had “very unique and unreplaceable services and closeness to the president” of Guinea, and had helped the company to secure its tenure over mining leases for Simandou. Guinea’s government said in a statement this month that it “had no knowledge, at the time in 2011, that Mr de Combret acted in any capacity on behalf of … Rio Tinto”. Date: 18.11.16 Client: BSG Publication: Financial Times Gains from skirting anti-corruption rules will not last Companies venturing far afield should bear in mind the potential pitfalls Rio adviser’s links to Guinea president raise bribery questions NOVEMBER 18, 2016 by: Brooke Masters, Companies Editor Globalisation is a dirty word in many quarters these days. But it is also a necessity for big companies that want to continue to grow. Miners and oil companies need new sources of raw materials, manufacturers want cheaper labour and everyone is searching for new customers in rapidly growing markets. The election of Donald Trump, who has been explicitly protectionist, highlighted the political risks for those that focus their investment abroad to the detriment of workers at home. Now, two big companies have received stark reminders of another potential pitfall of venturing far afield. Competing for business in countries where different laws apply can create serious reputational and legal problems at home, as well. Mining group Rio Tinto has fired two senior managers and reported itself to anti-corruption prosecutors in the UK, Australia and US over a $10.5m payment to a consultant who helped secure rights to a giant iron ore project in Guinea, western Africa. Rio has not spelt out why it believes the payment is suspect. But the fee helped the group secure the rights after an epic battle that involved claims of political interference and bribery. Internal emails from 2011 showed senior executives — including the then- chief executive and the man who replaced him — discussing the fee and the help provided by the consultant. Rio’s current chief executive said staff are “shell-shocked”, and outside lawyers noted that fines for overseas bribery — if any is found — can run to the hundreds of millions of dollars. Indeed, Rio need only look across the Atlantic at JPMorgan Chase. The US bank this week shelled out $264m in penalties for hiring about 200 Chinese “princelings” to win business from their well-connected relatives. Internal emails cited in the bank’s settlement agreements with US authorities variously described some of the hires as “photocopiers”, “doing nothing” and having a “napping habit”. Seen by participants as part of the Chinese tradition of guanxi, or “personal connections”, the “programme was nothing more than bribery by another name”, said assistant attorney-general Leslie Caldwell. The princeling hirings continued for seven years and brought in $100m in revenue from state owned enterprises, watchdogs said. JPMorgan even created spreadsheets to track the hiring “which has an almost linear relationship” with new investment banking business in China, according to an email cited in the agreement. Both cases also appear to involve serious legal and compliance failures. JPMorgan specifically banned the hiring of children and relatives of clients to win business and in 2007 put in place screening to prevent quid pro quo hires.