Rio Tinto marked the shipment of 4 billion tonnes of iron ore from the Pilbara in Western Australia to China. The shipment was loaded at Dampier Port on 19 July, bound for China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s top steel producer.

This milestone comes 51 years after the first shipment of almost 22,000 tonnes of Pilbara iron ore was sent from Dampier Port to China's Shanghai No. 1 Steel Mill, which has since become part of China Baowu.

Over more than half a century, China has grown to become Rio Tinto’s largest customer with about 250 million tonnes of iron ore shipped each year.

Rio Tinto partnered with China for the country’s first investment in a foreign mining project, and its largest ever foreign investment at the time, by forming the Channar joint venture in 1987.

Western Range, Rio Tinto’s newest mine, is the latest joint venture partnership with China Baowu. Production from the mine is expected to commence in 2025, with an annual capacity of 25 million tonnes of iron ore.