Miner Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is the official medals provider of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The firm announced on Tuesday that the 4,700 medals it will supply the games would be crafted from metals sourced from Rio's Kennecott Utah Copper Mines and Oyu Tolgoi Mine.

The Kennecott mine is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. and the Oyu Tolgoi mine is in Mongolia. The latter will go into commercial production in 2013.

In mining the metal, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese said the firm brings at the same time long-lasting positive change to communities where it works, respects human rights, delivers economic benefits and cares for the environment.

"The metals and minerals we produce go to make things we use every day, and that help contribute to higher living standards, from medicine and soap to housing and mobile phones," Mr Albanese said in a statement.

"We have rigorous standards for air quality, ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change, the use of energy, land and water and waste disposal. Before we even open a mine we plan for its closure and how to restore the land," he added.

By providing the games with medals sourced from sustainable mining operations, Mr Albanese said Rio backs the London Games' commitment to hold the most sustainable game ever held in the Olympics' history.

He cited the strict compliance of Rio's operations in Salt Lake City with federal and state air quality laws that are based on high standards for the protection of human health. Its Kennecott mine has been operating for more than 109 years.

In Oyu Tolgoi, Rio is committed to zero impact on community water sources by using only about 20 per cent of the water from the Gunii Hooloi aquifer, the primary water source for residents.

On Tuesday also, Rio reported that it expects to produce about 250 million tonnes of iron ore from its global operations for 2012. The company said it is confident that it will meet annual production targets even if the miner's March quarter production was below expectation.

Rio produced 59 million tonnes for the first quarter of 2012 which is still a 10 per cent increase compared to fourth quarter 2011 figures. Across its other produce, Rio had a solid Q1 due to higher production of iron ore, coal, bauxite, alumina and titanium dioxide compared to the same quarter in 2011, Mr Albanese disclosed.

"This was driven by a combination of our consistently high operating performance and reduced impact from severe weather than in 2011.... We were therefore well positioned for the relatively strong markets in the first quarter, albeit with continued volatility as we anticipated," Mr Albanese said.

However, copper production slipped 18 per cent compared to Q1 2011 because of expected lower grade production at Kennecott, as mined copper dropped 49 per cent and refined copper declined 36 per cent. Mr Albanese said the lower copper ore grades at the Utah mine are expected to last through the second quarter of 2012.

Aluminium production suffered a 9 per cent drop because of the labour row at the Alma plant and the shutdown of the Lynemouth facility. Bauxite production, however, grew by 9 per cent due to higher internal refinery and third party demand.

Andrew Harding, the head of Rio's Copper Division, forecast that the company's stockpiles of copper would likely be reduced in the last two quarters of 2012 due to continuing demand for the metal by China. He projected that Chinese demand for copper would increase by more than 8 per cent annually in the next five years as it develops its power infrastructure.

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