Rio Tinto sacks former head of aluminium division for leak

afr.com:

Rio Tinto fired the former head of its aluminium division, Ivan Vella, on Wednesday with immediate effect due his “failure” to keep confidential information secret, according to the mining giant, which is investigating the fallout from the breach.

Mr Vella, who worked his way to the top ranks of Rio Tinto over two decades in Australia, Mongolia and Canada, was set to leave the company next month to become the chief executive of ASX-listed Australian battery minerals producer IGO.

Ivan Vella has spent the past two years running Rio Tinto’s aluminium division from Montreal. Trevor Collens

Although Mr Vella stepped down as the CEO of aluminium in June, he remained with Rio Tinto during the transition period.

An email to all employees sent by Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, seen by The Australian Financial Review, shows an external investigation found Mr Vella “failed” to keep information secret.

“The first stage of our external investigation has concluded that Ivan failed to maintain the standards expected of him relating to this topic,” the internal email said. “The termination relates to actions that did not follow Rio Tinto’s guidance on acceptable management of confidential information.”

Rio Tinto confirmed that Mr Vella’s contract was terminated on November 15, specifically due to “failing to follow guidance on acceptable management of confidential information”.

Mr Vella’s future employer, IGO, is seeking more information from its CEO-elect. Chairman Michael Nossal told IGO’s annual meeting on Thursday: “I need to acknowledge the news overnight which relate[s] to Ivan’s departure from his previous employer. Given this is very new information, I am not in a position to speak in detail.”

He said Mr Vella was an