More than thirty per cent of Rio Tinto investors have ruled over the increased pay to executives during its annual general meeting in Austraila.

Shareholder activist group RiskMetrics has suggested to vote against the renumeration report after Rio proposed to raise its bonus limits for executives.

At least 421.3m shareholders have casted their votes against the motion, however, 704.1m have favoured the remuneration report, which was approved.

It was revealed that chief executive Tom Albanese received a total payment of £2.1million and £3.8 million in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Guy Elliot, its chief financial officer, earned £2.6 million in 2009 compared with £2.5 during 2008.

Basic pay of Mr. Albanese and Mr. Elliot was at £907,500 and £675,500.

Rio Tinto said bonuses were given due to the success of the recapitalization of the group's balance sheet. The company was exposed after it acquired Canadian group Alcan group.

RiskMetrics have argued that the increased payment might be “interpreted as a reward for correcting earlier strategic mistakes.”

Rio's newly installed chairman, Jan Du Plessis, recognize the concerns raised by the investors during the shareholders meeting.

"All I want to say is that, as chairman of the board, I take these matters extremely seriously," Mr Du Plessis said.

"I am going to make it my business personally to understand these concerns more fully by engaging with and listening to our major shareholders in the months ahead.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Albanese expressed his worries that other countries may follow Australia's suit in implementing tax on mining profits.

"We are concerned that other countries may see this as something they want to try out, too,” he said.

Mr. Albanese continues to call on the Federal Government to reconsider the tax