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Dividends - Additional information (Detail) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions |  | 12 Months Ended
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Feb. 26, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares | Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) £ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) £ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) £ / shares shares | Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Number of shares held |  | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Final Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Dividends per share: proposed in the announcement of the results for the year | $ / shares |  | $ 2.310 |  |  | $ 1.800 |  |  | $ 1.800 |  |
Special Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Dividends per share: proposed in the announcement of the results for the year | $ / shares |  | 0.000 |  |  | 2.430 |  |  | 0.000 |  |
Potential ordinary share transactions [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Dividends per share: proposed in the announcement of the results for the year | $ / shares | $ 2.31 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Dividends payment proposed in the announcement of the results for the year | $ | $ 3,700 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Rio Tinto plc [Member] | Final Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Final dividend per share | (per share) |  | 1.800 | £ 1.3596 |  | 1.800 | £ 1.2943 |  | 1.250 | £ 1.0056 |
Interim dividend per share | (per share) |  | 1.510 | 1.2332 |  | 1.270 | 0.9682 |  | 1.100 | 0.8313 |
Rio Tinto plc [Member] | Special Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Final dividend per share | (per share) |  | 2.430 | 1.8355 |  | $ 0.0000 |  |  | $ 0.0000 |  |
Interim dividend per share | (per share) |  | $ 0.610 | £ 0.4982 |  |  | £ 0.0000 |  |  | £ 0.0000 |
Rio Tinto plc [Member] | Ordinary [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Number of share excluded from previous year final dividend calculation |  | 852,283 | 852,283 | 852,283 | 132,294 | 132,294 | 132,294 | 277,946 | 277,946 | 277,946
Number of share excluded from interim dividend calculation |  | 564,099 | 564,099 | 564,099 | 314,529 | 314,529 | 314,529 | 173,297 | 173,297 | 173,297
Rio Tinto plc [Member] | American depository receipts |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Number of share excluded from previous year final dividend calculation |  | 37,678 | 37,678 | 37,678 | 22,824 | 22,824 | 22,824 | 22,021 | 22,021 | 22,021
Number of share excluded from interim dividend calculation |  | 47,674 | 47,674 | 47,674 | 36,321 | 36,321 | 36,321 | 24,377 | 24,377 | 24,377
Rio Tinto Limited [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Number of share excluded from previous year final dividend calculation |  | 628,566 | 628,566 | 628,566 | 130,129 | 130,129 | 130,129 | 214,278 | 214,278 | 214,278
Number of share excluded from interim dividend calculation |  | 342,062 | 342,062 | 342,062 | 251,394 | 251,394 | 251,394 | 274,899 | 274,899 | 274,899
Number of shares held |  | 944,467 | 944,467 | 944,467 |  |  |  |  |  |
Retained profits and reserves distributed as dividends | $ |  | $ 8,599 | £ 8,599 | $ 8,599 | $ 6,178 | £ 6,178 | $ 6,178 | $ 8,542 | £ 8,542 | $ 8,542
Rio Tinto Limited [Member] | Final Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Final dividend per share | $ / shares |  |  |  | $ 2.5089 |  |  | $ 2.2853 |  |  | $ 1.6362
Interim dividend per share | $ / shares |  |  |  | 2.1908 |  |  | 1.7084 |  |  | 1.3772
Rio Tinto Limited [Member] | Special Dividends [Member] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Disclosure of Dividends [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Final dividend per share | $ / shares |  |  |  | 3.3870 |  |  | 0.0000 |  |  | 0.0000
Interim dividend per share | $ / shares |  |  |  | $ 0.8850 |  |  | $ 0.000 |  |  | $ 0.000

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- Definition The amount of dividends proposed or declared after the reporting period but before financial statements are authorised for issue. Such dividends are not recognised as a liability at the end of the reporting period because no obligation exists at that time. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Name IAS -Number 1 -IssueDate 2019-01-01 -Paragraph 137 -Subparagraph a -URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_137_a&doctype=Standard -URIDate 2019-03-27 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Name IAS -Number 10 -IssueDate 2019-01-01 -Paragraph 13 -URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=10&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_13&doctype=Standard -URIDate 2019-03-27 + Details
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- Definition The amount, per share, of dividends proposed or declared before financial statements were authorised for issue but not recognised as distribution to owners. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Name IAS -Number 1 -IssueDate 2019-01-01 -Paragraph 137 -Subparagraph a -URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_137_a&doctype=Standard -URIDate 2019-03-27 + Details
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- Definition Number of share excluded from final dividend calculation. + References No definition available. + Details
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