Rio Tinto posted an H1 profit of $6.85 billion, and Argentina’s three major salt lake lithium mine projects made new progress.

On July 29, Rio Tinto announced its 2026 H1 results. The data showed that its underlying profit reached $6.85 billion, up 43% YoY; net profit was $6.66 billion, up 47% YoY.

In H1, Rio Tinto generated net cash from operating activities of $9.2 billion, underlying EBITDA of $14.8 billion, ROIC of 17%, underlying earnings per share of 421.4¢, dividend per share of 211¢, and a payout ratio of 50%.

Rio Tinto CEO Trott Simon said the group has delivered $870 million in productivity improvement benefits and is on track to achieve an annualized $1.8 billion by year-end. The group continues to advance growth investments, achieving a 3% increase in copper equivalent production and further enhancing portfolio diversification, with copper, aluminum, and lithium businesses now contributing over 50% of underlying EBITDA.

In lithium, Rio Tinto’s brine-based lithium projects in Argentina—Fénix 1B and Sal de Vida—both achieved first production ahead of schedule, while construction of the full-scale Rincon plant is progressing to support a capacity of around 200,000 mt/year of LCE by 2028.