Mining major Rio Tinto will provide the metal for medals awarded at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Rio Tinto will provide all the gold, silver and copper to produce the 4,700 medals for the two events,” the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has said.

Metal for the medals will come from the company”s Bingham Canyon mine in the United States and from the Oyutolgoi mine in Mongolia. Rio Tinto is developing Oyutolgoi copper/gold/silver project in partnership with Ivanhoe Mines.