XML 660 R180.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.4

Financial instruments and risk management - Capital and liquidity risk - Additional information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Net debt of the group	$ (664)	$ (3,651)	$ 255
Borrowings	$ 13,831	14,115
Liquidity risk
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Net debt of the group		$ (3,700)
Net debt to total capital percentage	1.00%	7.00%
Description of interest coverage on debt	39	28
Capital And Liquidity Risk Management
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Net debt of the group	$ (664)	$ (3,651)
Bottom of range | Liquidity risk
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Percentage of underlying earnings	40.00%
Top of range | Liquidity risk
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Percentage of underlying earnings	60.00%
Credit Facility Due November 2022 | Liquidity risk
Disclosure of detailed information about financial instruments [line items]
Borrowings	$ 7,500

X

- Definition

The amount of outstanding funds that the entity is obligated to repay.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Name IAS
-Number 1
-IssueDate 2020-01-01
-Paragraph 55
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2020-en-r&anchor=para_55&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2020-01-01

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_Borrowings
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- 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

Name:	ifrs-full_DisclosureOfFinancialInstrumentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

The amount of net debt of the entity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Name IAS
-Number 1
-IssueDate 2020-01-01
-Paragraph 112
-Subparagraph c
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2020-en-r&anchor=para_112_c&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2020-01-01

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_NetDebt
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Aggregate Rate of Cash Returns to Shareholders, Percentage

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rio_AggregateRateofCashReturnstoShareholdersPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	rio_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Number of interest cover times.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rio_DescriptionOfInterestCoverTimes
Namespace Prefix:	rio_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Net debt to capital percentage.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rio_NetDebtToCapitalPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	rio_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_TypesOfRisksAxis=ifrs-full_LiquidityRiskMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_TypesOfRisksAxis=rio_CapitalAndLiquidityRiskManagementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_RangeAxis=ifrs-full_BottomOfRangeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_RangeAxis=ifrs-full_TopOfRangeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_BorrowingsByNameAxis=rio_CreditFacilityDueNovember2022Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: