Arnaud Soirat
Chief Executive | Copper & Diamonds, Rio Tinto
Arnaud Soirat is the chief executive of Rio Tinto’s Copper & Diamonds product group.
Soirat has an engineering degree and a PhD in Theoretical Physics and Chemistry and some 25 years’ experience in the metals and mining industry including a wealth of operational and commercial experience gained in various technical and commercial roles, working all continents except Antarctica.
Soirat was appointed to his current role as chief executive in 2016, taking accountability for Rio Tinto’s two world class underground diamond mines in Australia and Canada , four operating copper mines in the US, Mongolia, Chile and Indonesia and the sales and marketing of diamonds, copper and copper bi-products, including gold and silver.
Soirat leads a business that is in the unique position of operating between heavy industry and the luxury business, for whilst Rio Tinto is primarily an upstream producer of diamonds, gold, silver and copper it is also a very active participant in the downstream supply chain, from the mine to retail.
Rio Tinto has been at the vanguard of reform in the jewellery industry to build better practices in governance and environmental and social performance. It was a founding member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, has a leading edge chain of custody programme from its Australian diamonds and is committed to building sustainable futures for the communities it operates in, in very different landscapes around the world.
