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Albanese, a 49-year-old mining engineer, joined Rio in 1993 when the company took over Nerco Minerals where Albanese was chief operating officer.
Rio appointed him general manager of the Green Creek gold, silver, lead and zinc mine in Alaska. He was then promoted to group exploration executive in 1995 and based in London.
Since that time, Albanese has held down positions as managing director of North after Rio took control of the iron ore producer in 2000, chief executive of industrial minerals, chief executive copper and exploration and his current role of director group resources.
He joined Rio’s board as an executive director in March.
Rio said Albanese was involved in the high-profile exploration partnership with Russia’s Norilsk Nickel and the joint venture with Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mining over the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit in Mongolia.
Albanese will take over from Clifford from May 1, 2007 after seven years at the helm.
The market reacted positively to the news, pushing Rio’s share price up $1.60 (2.1%) to $77.89.
