Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a national investor-rights law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington with 11 offices across the country, announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) between October 23, 2012 and February 15, 2013 (the “Class Period”). This action, Colbert v. Rio Tinto PLC, et al., No. 17-cv-08169, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges Rio Tinto and certain of its former executives violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, contact attorney Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000, email RioTinto@hbsslaw.com or visit www.hbsslaw.com/cases/RioTinto, where you may view the complaint online. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

Rio Tinto is incorporated in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”), and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). The Company, a mining and metals company, finds, mines, processes, and markets mineral resources. It has operations in Australia, North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America.

During August 2011, Rio Tinto completed its purchase of certain coal assets in Mozambique for approximately $3.7 billion (net of cash acquired at acquisition). This business became known as Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique, or “RTCM.”

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding RTCM’s true value.

More specifically, the complaint alleges: (a) within months of the purchase, now-former senior executives knew of material problems adversely affecting RTCM’s multi-billion dollar publicly reported valuation; (b) as time passed, the same senior executives knew of additional problems and events that, under applicable accounting rules, required an impairment analysis of RTCM and reductions in its reported valuation; (c) instead of timely performing the impairment analysis, these executives thwarted it and continued to tout RTCM’s value to investors; (d) when a concerned employee outside the normal financial control function discovered or suspected the senior executives concealed RTCM’s negative valuation from Rio Tinto’s Board of Directors, he bypassed them and directly alerted the Chairman, who ordered an investigation into RTCM’s true value; (e) on January 15, 2013, less than a year and a half after the purchase, the Board determined RTCM was severely impaired and should be written down by billions of dollars to $611 million; and (f) the impact of this writedown was reported to investors in Rio Tinto’s financial report on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on February 15, 2013.

As a result of this news and other disclosures, Rio Tinto’s ADR price declined.

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a national investor-rights law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington with 11 offices across the country. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. For the latest news, visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw.