LOCOG announce 40th domestic sponsor

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has announced Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group headquartered in London, as the ‘Official Mining and Metals Provider’ to London 2012. Rio Tinto will provide all the gold, silver and copper to produce the 4,700 medals for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and becomes a domestic Tier 3 sponsor.

The metal will come from opposite sides of the globe, from Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper mine in Salt Lake City, USA, and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. London 2012 marks the second time Rio Tinto has supplied the metals for the medals, having previously done so for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games in 2002.

LOCOG Commercial Director Chris Townsend commented, “The medals are one of the great traditions and enduring images of any Olympic or Paralympic Games, so Rio Tinto will play a significant role in the successful delivery of London 2012.  We welcome them to the London 2012 family and we look forward to working with them to ensure that our medals will be both spectacular and sustainable.”

Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto Chief executive said, “All of us at Rio Tinto are excited to have the special job once again of digging the ore that will become treasured medals for the world’s elite athletes. We are right behind London 2012’s commitment to delivering sustainable Games, which aligns with Rio Tinto’s passionate commitment to sustainable development wherever we operate around the world”.
 
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For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://blog.london2012.com or follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/london2012

For further information on Rio Tinto please contact Tony Shaffer – Media Relations, EMEA/Americas – on +44 (0)20 7781 1138 or +44 (0) 7920 041 003.

Notes to editors: 

As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS.

There are now twenty-four domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, Next, The Nielsen Company, Populous, Rapiscan, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Ticketmaster and Trident.

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Supplier, Otto Bock.

The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.