Rio Tinto Hits the Brakes on Lithium in Strategy Shakeup

Rio Tinto is streamlining operations and drafting a fundamental reset to accelerate projects with quicker and better returns. The strategy overhaul is courtesy of the mining giant’s former head of the iron ore division, the group’s biggest business, who became chief executive officer a few months ago.

New Rio Tinto CEO Simon Trott will unveil his vision of a streamlined Rio Tinto at a Capital Markets Day event in London on Thursday.

Trott has signaled that reorganization will continue to fundamentally reset the company’s businesses. This could include asset sales, slowing developments in lithium projects, and additional cost cuts, analysts tell The Wall Street Journal.

Rio Tinto could slow the timeline for development of some lithium projects, according to investors, after the mining giant bet big on the critical metal last year with the $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium.

The mining group will still bet on lithium, but projects will have to compete with the iron ore and copper developments, analysts say.

Days after becoming CEO, Trott announced in August “a new operating model and executive team to shape the company’s next chapter.”

Effective immediately, Rio Tinto simplified its product group structure to three businesses: Iron Ore, Aluminium & Lithium, and Copper.

Rio Tinto’s Lithium business moved into the Aluminium product group under the leadership of Jérôme Pécresse.

“I think if you try and do everything, you get nothing done,” Trott said at the   Goldman Sachs Global Metals and Mining conference 2025 in October.

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“One of the really good things about having options, and we’ve got lots of options in the lithium space, is that the bar is really high, and so we can look at those projects and progress the very best of them.”

Trott hinted Rio Tinto would be more selective in the lithium business to progress the most profitable projects.

The miner still sees strong lithium demand going forward, it said in its Third Quarter Operations Review.

“Lithium demand remains strong, underpinned by a 27% YoY increase in global electric vehicle (EV) sales across the first seven months of this year (compared to 22% over the same period in 2024). Demand from stationary batteries remains solid and is providing additional upside,” Rio Tinto said.

However, last month the group decided to mothball a $2.4 billion lithium project in Serbia after years of trying to obtain all necessary permitting.

“As part of our focus across the overall portfolio to simplify and prioritize near term opportunities, the decision has been made to transition the Jadar project to care and maintenance,” an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed.

Prioritizing quicker returns and payback opportunities will be core to Rio Tinto’s new strategy under Trott.

“The changes we are making are not incremental — they are fundamental,” the CEO wrote in October in an emailed message shared with Bloomberg.

“We are transforming to make life easier for our frontline and lift our performance. It will take discipline and effort from all of us.”

Lithium demand has seen ups and downs in recent years, from booms to busts, as the pace of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, China’s economic growth, and faded energy transition enthusiasm in the U.S. have shaped the market trends.

“Over the past five years, lithium prices have gone from bust to boom and back to bust again because of a disjoint between demand and supply,” said Oliver Heathman?, Head of Metals Assets, Metals & Mining Research at Wood Mackenzie.

“New producers, such as Brazil and Zimbabwe, have emerged in recent years spurred on by higher prices, while the level of optimism over EV demand has subsequently waned creating the current market oversupply as demand growth rates have slowed.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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