Rio Tinto Group

Formation

Since antiquity, a site along the Río Tinto in Huelva, Spain, has been mined for copper, silver, gold and other minerals. Around 3000 BC, Iberians and Tartessians began mining the site, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Moors. After a period of abandonment, the mines were rediscovered in 1556 and the Spanish government began operating them once again in 1724.

However, Spain's mining operations there were inefficient, and the government itself was otherwise distracted by political and financial crises, leading the government to sell the mines in 1873 at a price later determined to be well below actual value. The purchasers of the mine were led by Hugh Matheson's Matheson & Company, which ultimately formed a syndicate consisting of Deutsche Bank (56% ownership), Matheson (24%) and the civil engineering firm Clark, Punchard and Company (20%). At an auction held by the Spanish government to sell the mine on 14 February 1873, the group won with a bid of £3.68 million (ESP 92.8 million, equivalent to ~£519.3 million as of September 2026). The bid also specified that Spain would permanently relinquish any right to claim royalties on the mine's production. Following purchase of the mine, the syndicate launched the Rio Tinto Company, registering it on 29 March 1873. At the end of the 1880s, control of the firm passed to the Rothschild family, who increased the scale of its mining operations.

20th century expansion and development

Following their purchase of the Río Tinto Mine, the new ownership constructed a number of new processing facilities, innovated new mining techniques, and expanded mining activities.

During the first years of the company's operation in Spain, the company practiced open-air pyrite calcination in blast furnaces. The toxic fumes released by this process had a negative impact on the farmland and the local agriculturists, which led to the company's workers and some local anarchists coming together to protest against this practice. On 4 February 1888, several thousand rank and file—agriculturalists, anarchists and mineworkers—marched to the Río Tinto town hall (ayuntamiento) to deliver their petitions to the mayor. The civil guards, under perceived threat of mob violence, fired on the crowd, killing at least 13 and injuring 35.