This paper provides insights from a commissioned project that evaluated Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s (RTIO) procurement processes as they apply to Indigenous businesses. The evaluation was undertaken between September 2021 to July 2022 by Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining Energy and Exploration (AEMEE) in partnership with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM).

Rio Tinto Procurement’s (RTP) ‘Buy Local’ team commissioned the evaluation. AEMEE was engaged to lead the project and invited CSRM to partner with them and provide research expertise to deliver the project. The project objectives were aligned with AEMEE’s vision of gaining a larger market share for Indigenous businesses within the resource sector and CSRM’s mission to drive social performance in the global mining industry. All three parties support Indigenous business participation in mining and seek to promote leading practice to enhance Indigenous business engagement and outcomes across the sector. With a view to sharing lessons learned, this paper describes key aspects of the evaluation project. It is structured around 10 key questions.