Canada's Rio Tinto Aluminium Wins Metals Company of the Year: S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards
Winners Hail from the U.S., Singapore, Canada, Australia, Russia and India
CEO of the Year: John Ferriola, Nucor Group
Gregg Mollins Took Lifetime Achievement Award

LONDON, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rio Tinto Aluminium, a global leader within the aluminum sector won the prestigious Metals Company of the Year award at the seventh annual S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards program, which recognizes exemplary performance in 14 categories across the steel, metals and mining complexes.

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Honorees from four continents and 18 countries were heralded at the black-tie gala in central London. The event -- hosted by S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information, analytics and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets -- was emceed by CNBC's Julianna Tatelbaum and attended by nearly 200 industry executives.

Having become the first company to attain Chain of Custody certification from the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative in 2018, Rio Tinto Aluminium went on to commercialize aluminum in conjunction with coffee machine makers and coffee retailer Nespresso, proving that producing metal responsibly can also be profitable.

"We congratulate Rio Tinto Aluminium on this impressive win and its brave leadership and innovation to produce aluminum in a sustainable way," said Martin Fraenkel, President of S&P Global Platts. "Each of this year's winners and finalists deserves praise for their contributions to helping the metals industry become more efficient and innovative."

Rio Tinto Aluminium also won the 2019 Industry Leadership Award - Nonferrous. In reaching its decision, the Global Metals Awards' independent judging panel lauded the company's forward-looking approach to the production of aluminum on a sustainable footing, while delivering strong financial performance in a year of international trade uncertainty.

The coveted CEO of the Year award went to John Ferriola, Chief Executive Officer of Nucor Group, the USA's largest steelmaker. Judges were impressed by his "clarity of vision" and "leadership." They pointed to his shepherding of a $9-billion-plus investment in the company's future to grow the company's earnings power and become a low-cost steel producer, but also the strong financial performance and solid balance sheet he's overseen to make it possible.  

Gregg Mollins, Reliance Steel & Aluminum, received this year's Lifetime Achievement Award, with judges praising his "leadership, integrity and strategic vision". From his start as a warehouseman to eventually becoming CEO of one of the biggest metals service centers in North America, Mollins was faithful to a decades-long strategic vision of focusing on profit and inventory management, organic growth and an aggressive acquisition strategy.

For full details of the 2019 winners and the judges' rationale, visit S&P Global Platts' Insight Magazine.

Following are the 2019 S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards winners:

Metals Company of the Year
Rio Tinto Aluminium

CEO of the Year
John Ferriola
NUCOR

Lifetime Achievement Award
Gregg Mollins
Reliance Steel & Aluminum

Corporate Social Responsibility Award
NMDC Limited

Deal of the Year
Commercial Metals Company

Industry Leadership Award – Nonferrous
Rio Tinto Aluminium

Industry Leadership Award – Precious Metals
Polyus

Industry Leadership Award – Raw Materials & Mining
Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd.

Industry Leadership Award – Scrap & Recycling
United Scrap Metal

Industry Leadership Award – Steel
Nucor

Physical Metals Service Provider of the Year
Reliance Steel & Aluminum

Financial Metals Service Provider of the Year
Singapore Exchange

Rising Star Award
Champion Iron

Breakthrough Innovation of the Year
ELYSIS

For additional information, as well as the full list of finalists from which the winners were selected, see the S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards website (http://gma.platts.com/).

For information on sponsors and other supporters of the 2019 S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards visit: http://gma.platts.com/AboutSponsor.

Nominations for next year's S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards will be accepted starting December 2019.

S&P Global Platts will hold its sister awards gala, the 21st  annual S&P Global Platts Global Energy Awards, on December 12, 2019, in New York City at Cipriani – South Street.

About S&P Global Platts
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Contact: Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, + 1 917 331 4607, kathleen.tanzy@spglobal.com

SOURCE S&P Global Platts

For further information: EMEA: Arnaud Humblot +44 207 176 6685, arnaud.humblot@spglobal.com ; Alex Brog +44 207 176 7645, alex.brog@spglobal.com