It's unambiguously the talk of the mining industry: Rio Tinto's chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques is actively considering moving to Australia.
JS, as he's known, dropped the bombshell some weeks ago during a staff town hall held at the miner's London HQ, arguing for management to be closer to the resources giant's key assets – and indeed its customers.
Of the group's growth projects (its Pilbara ore mines, its Amrun bauxite mine in Far North Queensland and the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia), two of the three are in Australia and three of the three are in Asia. And besides its Canadian aluminium (Tom Albanese and Sir Paul Skinner, take a bow!), 90 per cent of Rio's minerals and metals are sold in south-east Asia; three-quarters of its customers are Chinese. Though it's worth noting that roughly the same share of its investors are based in London.
It also houses major Treasury, finance and marketing operations in Singapore, which explains that option. But we hear Sydney is the Frenchman's preference for an Australian base, having developed quite an affinity for the Emerald City on his regular work trips. Hey what's not to like?!
This will be terrifying news for (what's left of) Rio's Australian office at Melbourne's 120 Collins Street – and a bitter pill for Melbourne's favourite son, Rio's London-based CFO Chris Lynch. They should all just be thankful JS hasn't taken a shining to Adelaide.
Rio wasn't commenting on the industry chatter when contacted on Thursday.
Jacques opened Rio's newest Pilbara mine, Silvergrass, on Wednesday and next Wednesday evening is the keynote speaker at the Minerals Council's annual dinner in Canberra (often an unhappy event for Prime Ministers). In the meantime, will he darken the door of a few prestige real estate agents in Sydney's eastern suburbs or lower north shore? With his "10-year mandate" from the board, he'd be around long enough to ride the second harbour tunnel or take the metro at Barangaroo. Oh, and double the value of his McMansion…
