Rio Tinto wins employment award in Australia

Rio Tinto has won the Australian government’s Outstanding Organization award for providing jobs to Aboriginals Down Under.

At the awards ceremony in Canberra, Employment Minister Tony Abbott said the London-based company had “led by example.”

The award was presented as part of the Corporate Leaders Program, which is designed to help Australian companies provide jobs for Aboriginals.

Rio Tinto employs more than 450 Indigenous employees in its operations at Hamersley Iron, Argyle Diamonds, ERA (Ranger mine) and Comalco (Weipa mine).

“These partnerships have enabled us to increase employment substantially for local Aboriginal people at our Australian operations,” said Leigh Clifford, Rio’s chief executive officer.

The Corporate Leaders Project has generated an estimated 4,000 jobs for indigenous Australians.

Meanwhile, Clinton Walker, 20, a mechanical apprentice at Rio’s Hamersley Iron operation in Western Australia, won the Outstanding Individual award.