PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major Rio Tinto has announced a new local procurement programme that will provide Western Australian and Pilbara Aboriginal businesses greater opportunity to bid for contracts at the company’s iron-ore operations in the Pilbara.

Under the new programme, Rio will use a dedicated team to better link the company’s procurement opportunities and spending with Western Australian suppliers, including a series of local procurement workshops in the Pilbara and Perth, where information on the company’s forward procurement plans will be shared.

The new procurement team will also establish a web portal to provide improved visibility of upcoming contracts, allowing more Western Australian businesses to lodge their interest in future work.

“Rio has spent almost A$57-billion with Western Australian businesses over the past seven years, but we want to do more. Our new procurement programme will make it easier for Western Australian businesses to compete for contracts with Rio Tinto Iron Ore,” said the company’s iron-ore CEO Chris Salisbury.

He added that some 77% of the iron-ore division’s procurement was already with local suppliers.

“Rio’s Pilbara iron-ore business has more than 1 200 Western Australian suppliers and we make a large contribution to the state economy through local procurement, taxes and royalties. Providing more opportunities for Western Australian businesses to secure contracts will further boost the Pilbara and state economy.”

Salisbury said that the new local procurement team will also partner with existing suppliers to help identify local businesses that may be able to supply to them.

“We will also help smaller firms build the internal capacity to work with us by linking prospective suppliers with business development specialists.”

The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) has welcomed Rio’s move, with CEO Reg Howard-Smith saying resources companies are looking at ways to boost local content on projects.

“Efforts by companies like Rio to boost local content on projects significantly benefits the Western Australian community,” Howard-Smith said.

“The resources industry’s spending flows through to every part of the state by way of wages and salaries, business purchases and community contributions.”

He noted that a sample of 46 resources companies in 2015/16 showed that the industry’s spending contributed A$32-billion to the Western Australian economy, with A$7.9-billion of this being paid in wages and salaries and A$19.8-billion paid in purchases of goods and services from just under 7 000 local businesses.

“Today’s announcement by Rio is just one example of how the industry is trying to improve the lives of West Australians by increasing job opportunities for local businesses and workers.”