Rio Tinto appoints new chief commercial officer

(Sharecast News) - Mining giant Rio Tinto announced the appointment of Bold Baatar to the position of chief commercial officer on Monday, responsible for overseeing its commercial and business development operations globally.

The FTSE 100 company said Baatar would succeed Alf Barrios, who had decided to retire from Rio Tinto.

Currently serving as chief executive of copper, Baatar would bring much experience to his new role, starting to lead business development immediately and officially assuming the position of CCO on 1 September, relocating to Singapore for the role.

The successor for his position as copper CEO would be named in the near future.

To enable a seamless transition, Barrios would continue serving as CCO until the end of August.

After that, he would assume the role of chair for China, Japan, and Korea, and maintain membership in the executive committee, until his retirement at the end of 2024.

Baatar's responsibilities as CCO would include overseeing Rio Tinto's commercial organisation, including sales and marketing, procurement, marine, and logistics activities.

He would also lead its business development efforts and maintain his role as the executive committee lead for Guinea, where he would continue to manage relationships with joint venture partners on the Simandou project.

"Bold is ideally suited to help deliver our strategy of building a stronger Rio Tinto for the future and growing with discipline, as he leads our commercial and business development activities," said Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm.

"He brings deep experience across geographies, commodities, and markets - and combines strong business development expertise with a focus on developing world class relationships."

Bold Baatar said he was "thrilled" to be taking on his new role at a time when Rio Tinto had "so much opportunity" to deliver value for shareholders, customers and partners through the innovation and growth needed to reach net zero.

"By being ambitious together, we can find new and better ways to create shared value."

At 0840 BST, shares in Rio Tinto Group were up 2.48% at 5,097.64p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecst.com.