Alcan Engineered Products Opens its Outstanding Research and Development Capabilities to Industry Third Parties

PARIS, March 25, 2010 - Alcan Engineered Products - a business unit of Rio Tinto - is opening to
other companies the use of its cutting-edge R&D centre dedicated to aluminium
and its alloys.

Based in Voreppe (France), this European leading research and development
centre is unequalled and has gained international renown since its opening.
Previously focused exclusively on working with Rio Tinto businesses, the
centre now plans to assist other industrial companies in developing
state-of-the-art solutions.

"This broadening of our activities will encourage more holistic and more
innovative solutions to the benefit of our existing and new clients," said
Didier Albert, Sales Development Director of Alcan CRV Services.

Aluminium is becoming the material of choice for more and more
industries. It is three times less dense than steel, indefinitely recyclable
without the loss of any of its properties, extremely resistant to corrosion
and offers a high thermal and electrical conductivity. As such, aluminium
applications promote energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprints.

These intrinsic qualities have resulted in significant growth of the use
of aluminium in such diverse sectors as road, rail, maritime and air
transport; packaging; building and the energy sector.

"Developing new aluminium solutions and products requires strong
expertise across a variety of areas such as product and process metallurgy,
material characterisation, forming, joining and surface treatment," said Mr.
Albert.

"The unique properties of aluminium make it a material of choice for many
industries. For the first time, other companies can benefit from our
longstanding and recognised expertise to design, model and test new
applications to support their development," added Mr. Albert.

The expertise and resources of Alcan CRV Services will support projects
requiring multiple capabilities and disciplines. From the nano to the
macroscopic scale, from technical assistance to metallurgical prototyping,
Alcan CRV Services will allow companies to create and produce cost-effective
tailored materials

The solutions offered by Alcan CRV Services include training programmes
and an access to significant bibliographic resources, allowing companies to
implement and tailor all the elements of their research and development
programmes such as:

    - Material characterisation and analysis

    - Corrosion study and treatment

    - Material design and modeling assistance

    - Production of metallurgical prototypes

    - Thermal treatment

    - Mechanical testing

    - Forming

    - Joining

    - Surface treatment

Opened in 1967 and a part of Alcan Engineered Products since 2003,
Alcan's Voreppe Research Centre is responsible for a number of aluminium
metallurgy innovations including the conception of alloys, metallurgic
states, products, new functional applications and transformation and
deployment processes.

Alcan Engineered Products is a global sector leader strongly committed to
developing innovative, value-added aluminum products for a broad range of
civil and defence markets and applications, including aerospace, mass
transportation, automotive, packaging, energy and building.

With around 11,000 employees located in 27 countries and a commercial
presence in more than 60 markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the
Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, Alcan Engineered Products is organised
around businesses dedicated to performance materials in the areas of aluminum
rolled products, extrusions and automotive structures, aluminium cable and
international trade. Alcan Engineered Products is headquartered in Paris,
France.

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the
UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto
Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral
resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and
uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and
iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia
and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe
and southern Africa.

    For further information, please contact:

    Alcan Engineered Products
    Christine Chanet
    Tel.: +33-(0)1-57-00-21-65
    christine.chanet@alcan.com

    Alcan CRV
    Didier Albert
    Tel.: +33-(0)4-76-57-86-28
    didier.albert@alcan.com

    Hopscotch Europe in One
    Erin Mullally
    Tel.: +44-(0)2-08-133-3140
    emullally@hopscotch.eu

Website: www.alcan-crvservices.com

For further information, please contact: Alcan Engineered Products, Christine Chanet, Tel.: +33-(0)1-57-00-21-65, christine.chanet at alcan.com. Alcan CRV, Didier Albert, Tel.: +33-(0)4-76-57-86-28, didier.albert at alcan.com. Hopscotch Europe in One, Erin Mullally, Tel.: +44-(0)2-08-133-3140, emullally at hopscotch.eu