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Financial instruments and risk management - Summary of maximum credit risk exposure of the Group's financial assets (Parenthetical) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions | Dec. 31, 2017 | Dec. 31, 2016
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Disclosure Of Credit Risk Exposure [Line Items] |  |
Trade and other receivables | $ 2,985 | $ 3,047
Increase (decrease) due to corrections of prior period errors [member] |  |
Disclosure Of Credit Risk Exposure [Line Items] |  |
Trade and other receivables |  | $ (385)

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- Definition Line items represent concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes of the table. + References No definition available. + Details
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Namespace Prefix: | ifrs-full_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

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- Definition Trade and other receivables excluding non-financial assets. + References No definition available. + Details
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Namespace Prefix: | rio_
Data Type: | xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type: | debit
Period Type: | instant

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- Details
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Namespace Prefix: |
Data Type: | na
Balance Type: |
Period Type: |