The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is an interesting investment proposition amid its huge investment into electrification commodities.
Rio Tinto may be best known as an iron ore miner, but it also has exposure to copper, aluminium, bauxite, lithium and other resources.
ASX miner makes major lithium investment
Last week, Rio Tinto announced that it was investing US$2.5 billion to expand its South American lithium mining project called Rincon, to boost its capacity to 60,000 tonnes of battery grade lithium carbonate.
Rincon’s mine life is expected to be 40 years, with construction of the expanded plant scheduled to begin in mid-2025. First production is expected in 2028, followed by a three-year ramp-up to full capacity.
Rio Tinto is aiming for this project to have one of the lower-costing mines in the world and take advantage of the energy transition.
The ASX mining share said it wants to become one of the top lithium producers globally. When you add this initiative to the proposed acquisition of Arcadium Lithium CDI (ASX: LTM), we can see Rio Tinto is heavily committed to gaining exposure to lithium.
Rio Tinto pointed out that Argentina’s economic reforms and the new Incentive Regime for Large Investments provide a “favourable environment for investment, offering benefits such as lower tax rates, accelerated depreciation and regulatory stability for 30 years, protecting the project from future policy changes, as well as enhanced investor protections.”
The company is clearly excited by the long-term potential of lithium because of its use in batteries for homes, transportation and industrial purposes.
Is the Rio Tinto share price a buy?
Rio Tinto is one of the most appealing ASX mining shares to me, I like the exposure it gives to commodities other than iron, such as copper, aluminium and bauxite. Copper has a promising position in Rio Tinto’s portfolio.
Is lithium a good move? Time will tell. It’s important for electric vehicles, but, at the same time, the lithium price has sunk and demand doesn’t seem to be helping boost the price.
This isn’t a great time to buy Rio Tinto shares, but it’s not a bad time either. I wouldn’t mind buying a few shares today, but I think there could be a better price to buy at during 2025.
