Mining giant Rio Tinto gets a new Australian boss
Trott, who has worked at the dual British- and Australian-listed miner for more than 25 years, will move into the top job from August 25, when Stausholm departs.
Rio began a global search in May to replace its chief executive after board chair Dominic Barton surprised investors by disclosing that Stausholm would leave later this year after almost five years at the top, and failing to name a successor.
But the international search hasn't ventured further than Perth where Trott is based.
Trott has run Rio's critical iron ore operations in the Pilbara since 2021 and spent much of his career working at the company in senior roles including stints in Singapore, London and Hong Kong.
The executive may not have moved a long way from his roots, in a small town of less than 400 people in Western Australia's wheat belt called Wikepin, but he has risen swiftly to the top of the $155 billion miner, one of the world's largest, rising to the helm aged 50.
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Stausholm has not spoken about his next steps. He took control of Rio in January 2021 after the disastrous destruction of two 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in the Pilbara plunged the company into crisis, prompting the exit of then CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two other senior executives.
The Danish national oversaw significant improvement in the miner's approach to cultural heritage and relationships with traditional owners, and managed the company's reaction to another controversy precipitated by then sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick's 2022 investigation into a culture of bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination.
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