Rio Tino CEO Jakob Stausholm photographed at its office in London, England, on May 29, 2024. Photo by Jim Ross For story with Eric Reguly.JIM ROSS/The Globe and Mail
Rio Tinto PLC RIO-N chief executive Jakob Stausholm is stepping down earlier than expected, with little explanation from the British-Australian mining giant about what motivated the decision.
London-based Rio is one of the world’s biggest mining companies with a market value of roughly US$106.5-billion. The company also has a significant footprint in Canada stemming from its acquisition of aluminum producer Alcan Ltd. in 2008.
Mr. Stausholm became CEO in January, 2021, after serving as chief financial officer since 2018.
Rio said in a statement on Thursday that Mr. Stausholm will leave the company later this year after a successor is found, but it gave no reason as to why a new leader was needed at this juncture.
Rio Tinto chair Dominic Barton in the statement praised Mr. Stausholm as someone who “restored trust with stakeholders, aligned our portfolio with the commodities where demand growth is strongest, built a diverse and talented management team, and set a compelling growth trajectory.”
Mr. Stausholm, who declined an interview request with The Globe and Mail, is the second CEO in a row at Rio whose tenure has ended prematurely.
His predecessor, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, stepped down after he oversaw a decision to blow up a 46,000-year-old Indigenous site in Australia to make way for an iron ore mine. The event caused an international backlash against the company.
Rio’s decision to part ways with Mr. Stausholm was a surprise, said Ben Davis, analyst with RBC Europe Ltd., in a note to clients on Thursday.
He predicts that Bold Baatar, Rio’s chief commercial officer, is the most likely successor, given his “communication, portfolio knowledge and problem-solving skills.”
Rio’s biggest commodity by far is iron ore. Under Mr. Stausholm, the company expanded its presence in copper and took a huge bet on lithium. Earlier this year, Rio closed the US$6.7-billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium PLC, its biggest deal since Alcan. In 2022, Rio acquired the 49 per cent of Canadian copper miner Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. it didn’t already own for about US$3.3-billion.
While copper prices have been robust over the past few years, lithium carbonate has continued to drift after crashing in 2022. The lithium market has struggled owing to oversupply and slower than expected demand in electric-vehicle sales. Rio’s London-listed shares have fallen by 19 per cent over the past year.
Mr. Stausholm is Danish and worked at shipping company Maersk Group earlier in his career. He also worked in a finance role at Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
Rio employed 14,200 people in Canada at the end of 2024; the acquisition of Arcadium added another 140 to its Canadian headcount. Rio operates five aluminum smelters in Canada. Last week, the company said it intended to spend up to $1.7-billion to modernize a hydro plant in Quebec that supplies power to its aluminum operations.
The Canadian aluminum sector been under pressure in recent months, as it deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25-per-cent tariffs. While the U.S. is a major global producer of aluminum, it depends on millions of tonnes of imports to meet its needs for its aerospace, construction and automotive sectors. Canada is the biggest foreign supplier of aluminum to the U.S.