Mining major Rio Tinto this week revealed that it had contributed $47-billion in the countries and communities where it operates, including $8.4-billion of taxes and royalties.

Despite the widespread challenges of Covid-19 in 2020, the contribution was up from the previous year, when Rio made a total direct economic contribution of $45.1-billion in the countries and communities where it operates, including $7.6-billion of taxes and royalties.

Rio’s tax bill in Australia, which is home to the largest part of the company’s business, reached $6.8-billion, while Canadian taxes amounted to $651-million and Mongolian taxes reached $227-million.

Tax payments in Chile amounted to $246-million, $132-million in the UK, a further $111-million in the US and $61-million in South Africa.

“As the Covid-19 virus threatened lives and livelihoods around the world, our entire company mobilized to safeguard our employees, contractors and local communities, and to keep our operations running safely and smoothly,” Rio interim CFO Peter Cunningham said.

“The strength and resilience of our business, along with the commitment and flexibility of our employees, customers, communities and host governments, enabled us to protect thousands of jobs across our supply chain and continue to pay taxes and royalties to governments when many other companies were forced to cut back.”