Rio Tinto proposes 56% pay jump for CEO as mining sector fights for talent

By Melanie Burton and Clara Denina

MELBOURNE/LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto's RIO.AX, RIO.L board has proposed increasing its CEO Simon Trott's target remuneration package by 56% to £9.8 million ($13.06 million), according to four people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by Reuters.

Surging pay at defence, aerospace and energy transition firms has left mining companies including Rio Tinto — the world's second-biggest listed miner — scrambling to compete for top talent.

Rio Tinto's board has expanded its peer benchmarking group — the list of companies it compares itself to when calculating executive compensation ranges — an investor presentation seen by Reuters showed. Among other companies, it added US energy majors Chevron CVX.N and ExxonMobil XOM.N as well as GE Aerospace GE.N.

Responding to Reuters questions about the changes, Ben Wyatt, who chairs Rio Tinto's remuneration committee, said the miner was consulting investors ahead of a policy update. He said Trott's fixed pay would remain unchanged but incentives tied to multiyear business outcomes and shareholder returns would be adjusted.

"This is designed to drive business performance in the interests of shareholders, support the delivery of Rio Tinto's long-term strategy, and attract and retain strong leadership in a competitive global market," he said in a statement.

Appointed in July 2025, Trott delivered a 43% jump in first-half underlying earnings this year while pursuing restructuring and asset sales.

SOME INVESTORS CONCERNED ABOUT CEO PAY INFLATION, BAD OPTICS

Reflecting a compensation overhaul weighted to performance, Trott's maximum remuneration is proposed to grow 63% to £18.3 million, the briefing documents showed.

Short-term incentives would rise to a maximum of 300% of base salary from 200%, while long-term targets would jump to 900% from 500%.

Trott's new package would apply to the next three years of his compensation. To come into effect, the expanded framework will require shareholder approval at next year's annual meeting.

Some Rio Tinto investors, however, told Reuters they were concerned the compensation proposal could fuel salary inflation among top Australian mining executives and, amid a cost-of-living crisis, reflect poorly on the company.

GLOBAL RUSH TO SECURE TOP LEADERS DRIVES UP CEO PAY

A Deloitte report in April showed that median CEO pay at FTSE 100 companies increased 18% year-on-year to £5.89 million in 2025.

Executive pay in Britain's aerospace, engineering and manufacturing sectors in particular has surged in the past two years.

And as competition for top leaders heats up — both across sectors and within a mining industry pivoting toward energy transition metals — mining executives are already moving or being approached.

Rag Udd is leaving BHP BHP.AX to become CEO of Albemarle ALB.N, while French miner Eramet ERMT.PA approached Rio Tinto's Jerome Pecresse for its CEO position within the past year, according to one person close to the matter.

Both Albemarle and Eramet are developing lithium projects for electric vehicle batteries.

Pecresse, who Rio Tinto recruited from General Electric, did not respond to a request for comment. Eramet and Rio Tinto declined to comment.

BRIDGING THE TRANSATLANTIC PAY GAP

Companies outside the United States are also increasing pay to bridge a widening transatlantic divide. Nearly 60% of FTSE 350 companies proposed pay increases during this year's annual general meeting cycle, data from proxy advisory services firm Glass Lewis showed.

Under Rio Tinto's proposed changes, Trott's maximum package would place him just under the median of the 19 companies the miner considers peers.

US oil major ExxonMobil's CEO Darren Woods, who earned $33 million in 2025, topped that list, the documents showed. Canada's Agnico Eagle Mines AEM.TO and US miner Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N were the highest-ranked mining companies in the peer group.

If approved, Trott's pay increase would put him among the top tier of Australian CEOs and ahead of rival miner BHP's Brandon Craig, whose remuneration is expected to be around $10 million and is capped at just below $13 million.

Such pay gaps could put pressure on other companies to follow Rio Tinto's lead, investors and analysts say.

Total median pay for CEOs and CFOs already jumped 14% this year through performance-linked incentives, according to a Bedford Group report on mining industry compensation.

Yet some shareholder resistance remains.

Last year, Anglo American AAL.L withdrew a proposal to guarantee substantial bonuses for senior executives tied to its Teck Resources TECKb.TO merger.

But others, including George Cheveley, portfolio manager at Rio Tinto shareholder Ninety One, said higher pay can be a useful tool to boost performance.

"As long as it is aligned with shareholders, I'm quite happy," Cheveley said in response to a generic question about mining executive pay.

($1 = 0.7505 pounds)