Peter Ker

Ken MacKenzie is expected to retire next year as he prepares to honour the informal nine-year limit he imposed on director terms at the mining giant.

Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest says his leaders are required to back equality, prompting a mea culpa from energy boss Mark Hutchinson.

The legendary explorer has more than doubled annual profits at his flagship private company.

Rio Tinto is urgently pushing to acquire copper-rich tenements close to its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia to avoid a big slump in grades and volumes next year.

The company told shareholders the billionaire would step down as managing director within 18 months, and chairman James McClements will depart in the next year.

The tycoon already owns a share of the company behind the Jellinbah and Lake Vermont coal projects. He says the deal reflected his confidence in the industry.

One analyst at the Bank of America went so far as to say the big discount in the miner’s valuation made it “vulnerable to M&A or potentially a take private”.