Protesters at Rio Tinto HQ demand answers on global environmental concerns

Ahead of Rio Tinto’s 2026 AGM on 6 May, activists and community representatives from Mongolia, Madagascar, Serbia and Arizona are joining with the London Mining Network. They’re demanding meaningful responses to long-standing grievances they have raised at multiple AGMs without resolution.

Protesters wore blue masks to symbolise the frustration from years of unanswered questions and broken promises. They said Rio Tinto has failed to engage adequately with communities affected by its projects.

The coalition highlights concerns spanning four continents:

• Excessive water use in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
• Water contamination, health concerns and failed social commitments in Madagascar.
• Proposed lithium mining in Serbia’s biodiverse Jadar Valley.
• Untenable plans to mine copper in Oak Flat, Arizona, a sacred Native American site in the midst of severe drought.

In what the UN has described as an emerging era of “water bankruptcy,” campaigners say “there isn’t enough water” to sustain Rio Tinto’s projects and contaminating extraction processes without threatening communities and the environment.

They argue the company is failing to meet its own standards on human rights and environmental protection, while continuing to advance controversial projects.

Campaigners are calling on Rio Tinto to provide clear, substantive answers and commit to action at this year’s AGM, and to reconsider projects they say pose irreversible harm to ecosystems and communities.

Roger Featherstone, president of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, said:

We have demanded until we are blue in the face that Rio Tinto abandons the Resolution Copper project and leaves Oak Flat alone. The project is a failed experiment and there isn’t enough water for both the project and our communities and the environment, yet Rio Tinto continues to bully their way forward. Abandoning the project would be a boon to the company’s shareholders.

Zoe Lujic, executive director of Earth Thrive, said:

We have been telling Rio Tinto, until we are blue in face, that they leave Serbia as the people will simply not allow them to dig any mines here. They keep refusing to listen to us.
The Nature-, food- and water-rich, thriving bioregion of Jadar is a living community with inherent rights to life and health, and that must be respected! You will not be digging!

Yvonne Orengo, affiliate researcher / adviser with civil society groups in Madagascar, said:

Rio Tinto has failed to deliver on its promises to local people in Madagascar. Instead of the pledged development and prosperity, affected communities living around the mine in Anosy have been plunged into deepening poverty, with concerns about water contamination, health impacts and unpaid compensation. Local people now fear the company will cut and run from Madagascar, leaving them a toxic legacy.

Sukgherel Dugersuren, chair of Oyu Tolgoi Watch, said:

In Mongolia, we are concerned about Rio Tinto, a war industry supplier and environmental and human rights perpetrator, receiving more corporate support from banks. We call on shareholders to demand Rio Tinto stop depleting and contaminating water resources which is adding to the climate crisis. No water for war!

Featured image via London Mining Network / Rebecca Binda