Director/PDMR Shareholding

Rio Tinto PLC
11 March 2008

Rio Tinto plc
11 March 2008



                    Rio Tinto Share Option Plan ('SOP') and
              Rio Tinto Mining Companies Comparative Plan ('MCCP')



The SOP is a discretionary share option plan under which eligible employees are
granted an option to purchase a number of Rio Tinto plc shares in the future at
a price set at the date of grant provided certain performance conditions are
met.



The MCCP is a performance share plan which provides participants with the
conditional right, subject to performance conditions being met, to receive
shares in the Company of 10p each ('ordinary shares').



Rio Tinto plc announces that, on 10 March 2008 in London, the following persons
discharging managerial responsibility ('PDMRs') of the Company were each granted
options over ordinary shares at a price of £57.232 under the Rio Tinto Share
Option Plan 2004. In addition, conditional share awards over ordinary shares
under the MCCP at a price fixed at time of vesting were awarded, as detailed in
the table below:


                                        No. of options acquired under SOP     No. of conditional share awards acquired
                                                                                           under the MCCP
Tom Albanese                         73,561                                   49,040
Preston Chiaro                       29,354                                   19,569
Bret Clayton                         28,342                                   18,894
Guy Elliott                          36,503                                   25,552
Dick Evans                           60,733                                   40,489
Keith Johnson                        22,696                                   15,887



The period during which the SOP options granted in 2008, as above, may be
exercised is 10 March 2011 and 10 March 2018. Conditional awards under the MCCP
are subject to performance conditions and the performance period ends on 31
December 2011.



Total number of shares over which options or conditional awards are held
following notification:


                              Rio Tinto          Rio Tinto         Total share           MCCP        Total conditional
                                                                     options                            share awards
                          Share Savings Plan       Share

                                                Option Plan
Tom Albanese*             791                742,423            743,214            194,122           194,122
Preston Chiaro*           298                290,324            290,622            121,781           121,781
Bret Clayton*             163                97,813             97,976             63,766            63,766
Guy Elliott*              1,431              444,417            445,848            148,140           148,140
Dick Evans                0                  60,733             60,733             40,489            40,489
Keith Johnson*            456                180,296            180,752            95,756            95,756



*  The above PDMRs also have an interest in 879 shares as potential
beneficiaries of the Rio Tinto Employee Share Ownership Trust.



This announcement is made in accordance with the requirements of the Financial
Services Authority Disclosure and Transparency Rules 3.1.2 to 3.1.4.





Enquiries:        Mr M Whyte
                  Assistant Secretary
                  Rio Tinto plc
                  Tel: [phone]




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange