Re Agreement

Rio Tinto PLC
20 July 2001


                                                                              
             Dampier Salt to buy Cargill's Australian salt assets             

 
Dampier Salt Limited (Rio Tinto 64.9%) has reached agreement with Cargill
Australia Limited regarding the purchase of Cargill's salt operation located
at Port Hedland, Western Australia for US$95 million, plus contingent
performance-based payments payable over a number of years, not to exceed
US$15 million in aggregate.
 
The Port Hedland operation presently produces and exports around three
million tonnes of salt per annum. The acquisition will significantly expand
Dampier Salt's current production capacity of approximately five million
tonnes per annum from its Dampier and Lake MacLeod salt operations, and make
it the world's largest salt exporter. The sale agreement is subject to
Western Australian government approvals.
 
Dampier Salt's Managing Director, Mr Hubie van Dalsen, said, 'The Port
Hedland purchase represents an excellent opportunity for Dampier Salt to
strengthen its position in the Asian bulk salt market. The international salt
industry is highly competitive and the acquisition of this operation will
enable us to offer even greater reliability of supply to our customers'.
 
Dampier Salt will be offering employment to all current site employees of the
Cargill's Port Hedland operation.
 
Dampier Salt's production is exported, principally to Asia, with its largest
customers
in the chemical industry in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. A proportion
of output is used for food processing and domestic consumption in Malaysia
and the Philippines.
 
The other shareholders in Dampier Salt are Marubeni Corporation (20.5%),
Nissho-Iwai (10.1%) and Itochu Corporation (4.5%). Rio Tinto established the
Dampier salt field in 1972 and purchased the Lake MacLeod operation in 1978.
Dampier Salt also has a gypsum operation at Lake MacLeod.
 
Cargill Australia Ltd is wholly-owned by Cargill Inc., a private company with
significant salt interests in North and South America.
 

For further information, please contact:

                                                                  
              LONDON                     AUSTRALIA                
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              Jonathan Murrin            Daphne Morros            
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Website: www.riotinto.com