Rio Tinto has appointed Bold Baatar to the role of Chief Commercial Officer, to lead the Group's commercial and business development activities globally. Bold will succeed Alf Barrios as Chief Commercial Officer, following his decision to retire from Rio Tinto. Bold, who is currently Chief Executive Copper, will take on accountability for business development immediately, and will relocate to Singapore to take up the role of Chief Commercial Officer on 1 September 2024.

His successor as Chief Executive Copper will be announced in due course. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Alf will continue in his role as Chief Commercial Officer until the end of August, and thereafter as Chair for China, Japan and Korea, and Executive Committee member, until his retirement at the end of 2024. In his new role, Bold will lead Rio Tinto's commercial organisation, accountable for sales and marketing, procurement, marine, and logistics activities.

He will also take on leadership for business development for the Group and maintain his role as Executive Committee lead for Guinea, continuing to lead Rio Tinto's relationships with its joint venture partners on the Simandou project. Bold joined Rio Tinto in 2013 and has been an Executive Committee member since December 2016. In his time at Rio Tinto he has held diverse leadership positions across both product group and commercial teams. He was appointed Chief Executive Copper in February 2021 and prior to this, led the Energy & Minerals product group.

Alf was appointed Chief Commercial Officer and Chair for China, Japan and Korea in 2021. He joined Rio Tinto in 2014 as Chief Executive Aluminium and has had over 30 years' global experience in the resources sector across operations, marketing, trading, and business development.