News Articles for Sam Walsh

The appointment of Sam Walsh as a director of Mitsui & Company this week has brought attention to the usually low-profile Japanese multinational, which according to BNiQ Search Engine data has been a major investor in Western Australia's resources industry and is one of the state's largest exporters.

Mining giant Rio Tinto will hold back all outstanding performance-related pay of previous chief executive Sam Walsh for at least two years, until investigations into a payments scandal in West Africa are more advanced.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service WA has today announced former Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh as the successor of chair Neville Bassett.

Former Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh plans to apply ideas from his time in London to the arts sector in Western Australia, after being announced as the new chairman of the Art Gallery of WA.

SPECIAL REPORT: Arts and cultural organisations are pursuing innovation and collaboration to help manage the tougher financial conditions in WA.

The Australian Council for the Arts has welcomed former Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh and fellow Western Australian Kate Fielding to its board.

Rio Tinto has announced a new executive team in a major reorganisation that will include iron ore boss and one-time CEO hopeful, Andrew Harding, leaving the mining giant.

The clock is ticking for the leaders of some of WA's biggest businesses, beset by low growth and a sluggish outlook.

ANALYSIS: WA's resources-focused business community is eagerly awaiting the next round of figures for iron ore production costs.

Rio Tinto executive Greg Lilleyman is leaving the company after 25 years, and will be replaced as group executive technology and innovation by the miner's current head of exploration.

In the first of a series of interviews with top WA business figures for Business News, Leadership WA chief executive officer Robin McClellan spent 10 minutes with Rio Tinto chief executive, iron ore, Andrew Harding, who said he looked to hire smart, reflective and curious people, and revealed mindfulness meditation had helped him be a better leader.

Chevron is the latest major resources player in the state to announce a change in leadership, after selecting a successor to current managing director (Australia) Roy Krzywosinski, who will hand over the reins in June.

Mining giant Rio Tinto plans to continue its cautious approach as it expects the tough operating environment to remain in the foreseeable future.

Rio Tinto has reaffirmed its guidance for iron ore shipments in 2016 but slashed production guidance for next year after saying it was facing delays with its AutoHaul driverless trains project in the Pilbara.

SPECIAL REPORT: There has been a major shift in business influence in WA amid waning international investment and, with two elections on the way, there is a prospect of even bigger changes in political influence. Click through to see our listing of WA's most infliential leaders in politics and business.

Perth's importance as a national business centre may have faded during recent months, but it's a different matter in the inner suburb of West Perth, where several small mining companies have sprung back to life.

The chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto will hand the reins over to the leader of the company's copper and coal division later this year.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has reported an $US866 million ($A1.2 billion) annual loss, and has responded by cutting its future dividends, operating costs and capital spending, though the long-planned Silvergrass mine in the Pilbara is shaping up as one of the company's few big projects to proceed.

Mining giant Rio Tinto shipped 11 per cent more iron ore in 2015, helped by the expansion of its Pilbara infrastructure, but has narrowly fallen short of its full-year guidance of 340 million tonnes.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has put a freeze on salaries for all employees as it hunts for savings in the face of a continuing slump in commodities prices.

Rio Tinto expects to cut its capital expenditure from a previously forecast $US6 billion to around $US5 billion next year, but it's unclear if the new figure includes the expected cost of its proposed Silvergrass iron ore mine.

If Andrew Mackenzie and Sam Walsh are right, then Western Australia's commodity dependent economy could be at the start of a recovery; and not before time, given the weakening state of the property market as measured by mortgage defaults.

As companies seek growth outside of WA, the reasons to remain domiciled here diminish.

The Pilbara Ports Authority lifted throughput to a record 619.8 million tonnes in 2014-15, primarily on the back of a 21 per cent jump in iron ore shipments through Port Hedland offsetting a small decline at Dampier.

The ‘iron ore wars' and budget battles are defining where power and influence lies in business and politics in WA. Read our latest Most Influential feature to see who is on the rise, whose influence is waning and who has dropped off the list.

Rio Tinto reaffirmed today plans to continue its brownfield iron ore expansions in the Pilbara but has noted all new mine developments are still on hold, leaving a question mark over when it will reach its 360 million tonnes per year production target.

The tougher business climate has prompted some WA companies to cut executive salaries, but most have held the line and some have even awarded pay rises.

The iron ore majors' move to flood the market may see off their small rivals, but a bigger opponent looms large.

Chairman of education provider Navitas, Harvey Collins, has joined the ranks of some of the top business leaders in WA by winning the Australian Institute of Company Directors gold medal award for WA.

Rio Tinto chief executive officer Sam Walsh and chief financial officer Chris Lynch have both had their contracts with the mining giant extended to open-ended tenures.

Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power has criticised what he calls "last man standing" expansion strategies by the major iron ore producers in the Pilbara while defending FMG's own expansion strategy.

FEATURE: A stubbornly high dollar, falling prices and high operating costs are combining to exert real pressure on smaller players in the iron ore sector.

Japan and Australia are officially even better friends, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott and visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe swapping compliments at an official dinner in Perth last night.

Perth-based mining services provider Calibre Group has been awarded a $22 million contract to provide management services for the brownfields expansion of Rio Tinto's West Angelas iron ore mine in the State's north west.

Colin Barnett will be hoping his encouragement of Africa's mining sector doesn't come back to bite him.

CBH Group chief executive Andrew Crane has been appointed a member of Australia's B20 Leadership Group, a private sector consortium that produces policy recommendations for international finance leaders for the annual G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane next year.

Rio Tinto's former Pilbara iron ore president Greg Lilleyman has been promoted to group executive technology & innovation, just four months after he was made head of productivity improvement.

All credit to Sam Walsh for being a business leader that transcends a typical view of the genre.

Rio Tinto has highlighted the dramatic shift in strategy by the big mining houses by unveiling a ‘low cost' expansion for its Pilbara iron ore business, with plans to lift production at five existing mines before it considers developing any new mines.