Alcan Extrusions and Automotive Structures Expands Manufacturing Capacity Following the Increasing Demand for Green Car Components

PARIS, October 7, 2010 - Alcan Extrusions and Automotive Structures (EAS), part of Alcan
Engineered Products - a business unit of Rio Tinto - has completed a major
expansion of its production site in Gottmadingen, Germany, after having
recorded an impressive level of performance in new business in 2009 for
greener car components made of aluminium both for premium and mass production
markets.

"The fast growing need of aluminium parts and components in modern
vehicles made it necessary to build a new manufacturing hall integrating new
production lines for crash management systems as well as an advanced
prototyping area to offer tailored solutions to our customers permanently
searching for lightweight concepts", explains Paul Warton, President Alcan
Extrusions and Automotive Structures (EAS).

The new hall includes state of the art, highly automated and productive
bending and machining equipment serving major European car manufacturers. It
expands the production area of the Gottmadingen site to approximately 20 000
square meters, enabling a significant increase in manufacturing capacity
fully dedicated to the production of Crash Management Systems (CMS) for up to
one million additional vehicles.

After several month of construction work, the production in the new hall
started with the manufacturing of Crash Management Systems (CMS) for the
Mercedes E-Class, and the GLK. Safety components for other original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) are to follow soon.

"We expect an increasing demand of greener cars in the future", adds
Christel Bories, President and CEO of Alcan Engineered Products. "Indeed,
global car manufacturers, supported by regulations, tax incentives, and
volatile fuel prices consider that the low CO2 emission car is a key success
factor for tomorrow. Offering advanced aluminium lightweight solutions, our
company is well positioned to benefit from this growing demand."

Alcan Extrusions is a key player in the European market, focusing on
specialty products. It supplies a variety of hard and soft alloy extrusions,
including technically advanced products, to the automotive, industrial,
energy, electrical and building industries, and to manufacturers of mass
transport vehicles and shipbuilders It has production facilities in France,
Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Automotive Structures serves major automotive and transportation
manufacturers with advanced technology, develops and manufactures aluminum
crash management systems, front-end components, cockpit carriers and
body-in-white structural components. It serves customers in Europe, North
America and China with innovative and cost-effective aluminum solutions.

Alcan Engineered Products is a global sector-leader strongly committed to
developing innovative, value-added aluminium products for a broad scope of
markets and applications, including aerospace, mass transportation,
automotive, packaging, energy and building. With around 10,000 employees
located in 26 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 aluminium rolled products, extrusions
and automotive structures, and international trade.

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:

    Alcan Extrusions and Automotive
    Structures
    Janne Katrine Patak
    Tel: +49-6196-99-888-22
    janne.patak@alcan.com

    Alcan Engineered Products
    Edith Mueller
    Tel: +41-43-497-40-32
    edith.mueller@alcan.com

    Rio Tinto Alcan Media Relations, Europe
    Mina Bishop (CLAI, agence de RP)
    Tel: +33-1-44-69-54-07
    mina.bishop@clai.com

For further information: Alcan Extrusions and Automotive, Structures, Janne Katrine Patak, Tel: +49-6196-99-888-22, janne.patak at alcan.com; Alcan Engineered Products, Edith Mueller, Tel: +41-43-497-40-32, edith.mueller at alcan.com; Rio Tinto Alcan Media Relations, Europe, Mina Bishop (CLAI, agence de RP), Tel: +33-1-44-69-54-07, mina.bishop at clai.com