By Rhiannon Hoyle

Rio Tinto and BHP Group said they have agreed to work together in Australia's Pilbara mining region to extract up to 200 million metric tons of iron ore from neighboring operations they own.

Under two nonbinding agreements, the companies will consider collaborating on the development of Rio Tinto's Wunbye deposit, they said in a statement Thursday. They will also explore whether BHP supplies its Yandi Lower Channel Deposit ore to Rio Tinto for processing at its existing wet plants, the companies said.

BHP and Rio Tinto are the world's two largest miners by market value, and are among the largest producers of iron ore, used to make steel.

"By working smarter, we can better leverage existing infrastructure to unlock additional production with minimal capital requirements," said Matthew Holcz, the head of Rio Tinto's iron-ore operations.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 14, 2026 18:23 ET (23:23 GMT)

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