What Rio Tinto is really saying about the Tiwai Pt smelter

Rio Tinto wants to stay but is asking: how much does NZ want an aluminium smelter? (Image: Getty)

Tue, 13 Dec 2022

For one moment in an hour-long, exclusive interview with Rio Tinto’s global head of aluminium, Ivan Vella, it feels like we’re going back to the past.Rio, which is trying very hard to shrug off its global image as an “ugly Australian” corporate, is on a charm offensive in New Zealand to convince politicians, journalists, the electricity industry and anyone who will listen, that it has turned over a new leaf.Vella knows that, as the 79.36% owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, Rio has developed a pariah reputation o...

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