Rio Tinto Alcan, CRÉPAS and Jonquière school board announce new
stay-in-school initiative, "Parcours 0 - 20 ans"

MONTREAL, Nov. 12 /CNW Telbec/ - The Rio Tinto Alcan Canada Fund, through its Keeping Youth in School Together programme, is investing $450,000 over a three-year period to deploy a pilot project focusing on involvement and action in an urban context in collaboration with CRÉPAS (a regional stay-in-school organisation in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean) and the Commission scolaire De La Jonquière (Jonquière school board). Called Parcours 0 - 20 ans, the project will consolidate stakeholder efforts in the educational, economic, industrial, social and municipal sectors so as to get the entire community involved in preventing students from abandoning their studies.

"We are very proud to strengthen our association with CRÉPAS and to collaborate with this respected organisation and the Jonquière school board in implementing this exciting, promising pilot project," said Étienne Jacques, vice president, Primary Metal - Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Rio Tinto Alcan. "The expertise developed in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean in this area has convinced us of the timeliness of launching one of the first initiatives in our Keeping Youth in School Together programme here."

The official launch was held at Sainte-Marie-Médiatrice school in Jonquière, in the presence of CRÉPAS chair Claude Ouellet, Jonquière school board chair Josette Lessard-Morin, representatives of Rio Tinto Alcan, and numerous students.

"Winning conditions are in place for this pilot project to potentially pave the way to major progress towards keeping kids in school. CRÉPAS has developed a particularly effective action model, the Jonquière school board is fully committed to the challenge, and the financial resources provided by Rio Tinto Alcan will allow us to consolidate the efforts of various stakeholders and bring about a lasting change."

In January 2010, Rio Tinto Alcan announced that the Rio Tinto Alcan Canada Fund would invest close to $15 million over five years to support tangible efforts to encourage young people to pursue their studies and obtain a high school diploma. The Keeping Youth in School Together programme provides funds for projects and initiatives launched by organisations that work directly with young people. In addition to CRÉPAS's Parcours 0 - 20 ans, Rio Tinto Alcan has announced its support for Le Grand défi Pierre Lavoie, Toujours Ensemble, Allô Prof and the Samajam percussion school.

The Keeping Youth in School Together programme was created following the publication of a report by an action group on schooling levels and educational success in Québec. It revealed that only 69 per cent of young Quebecers complete high school before age 20. An action strategy with the objective of increasing the high school graduation rate for students under 20 to 80 per cent by 2020 was subsequently implemented.

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.

For further information: