In February Rio Tinto amalgamated three of its industrial mineral businesses, Borax (borates), Luzenac (talc) and Dampier Salt, to form Rio Tinto Minerals.

Industrial Minerals chief executive Andrew Mackenzie says: "The time is right for a cohesive commercial strategy in developing economies like China , Eastern Europe , the Middle East and India where demand for higher quality raw materials is rising steadily."

Together with Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium, the two form the Industrial Minerals product group.

"The decision to take a new approach arises from the need to improve returns from these businesses and take advantage of new opportunities. Combining the businesses holds the greatest probability for success in achieving major improvements in Industrial Minerals safety record, competitiveness and options for growth," Andrew Mackenzie says.

"Individually these businesses are quite small. The objective is to form a business unit that is capable of operating on a scale comparable to other Rio Tinto business units." The elimination of areas of duplication will offer synergies amounting to tens of millions of dollars.

Focal points for Rio Tinto Minerals and the rest of the product group are to improve safety, achieve operational excellence, integrate an approach to serving common markets to build revenues, streamline systems to reduce duplication and capture new opportunities for growth.

The businesses brand names are being preserved. Value will be created through a unified approach to common markets. For example testing the use of borates in processing wood pulp has already been supported by Luzenac's knowledge of the paper market. The transfer of zinc borate sales for fire retardants from the Borax brand to Luzenac has also proved successful.

Borates, talc and salt have remarkable qualities that contribute to making our way of life more sustainable. Rio Tinto Borax supplies 43 per cent of the global demand for refined borates with 2500 customers in nearly 100 countries. Borates go into glass products, oven-to-table ware, glass fibre and ceramics. In agriculture, borates are an essential nutrient for plants and form part of a healthy diet.

Dampier is the world's largest salt exporter. Salt is essential to life, and indispensable to a wide array of chemical and other industries.

North America and Australia , Luzenac supplies a quarter of the world's talc and is a leader in the science of this mineral.