Rio Tinto plans third party metal trading expansion

• Rio Tinto plans to expand its commercial marketing unit to trade metals produced by third parties alongside its own output.
• Following the announcement, the Rio Tinto share price was unchanged at $166.46.
• The company stated that the expansion aims to optimise infrastructure and maximise value from its existing assets.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) plans to expand its marketing operations to trade third-party metals and utilise financial derivatives.

The world's second-biggest miner historically focused primarily on marketing its own production rather than third-party trading.

"Alongside this, we are continuing to grow our capability to buy and sell products on behalf of third parties," Rio Tinto said in a statement.

The expansion will target alumina and North American copper markets while utilising spare smelting capacity at its Kennecott operations in Utah.

The company stated that the strategy aims to deliver added value by maximising infrastructure utilisation and optimising customer product placement.

Following the announcement, the Rio Tinto share price was unchanged at $166.46.

The mining group recently initiated talks with oil trader Vitol to establish a joint freight and logistics venture.

The commercial division currently operates with approximately 20 traders and plans to add a handful of additional staff.