Rio Tinto’s incoming chief executive Simon Trott is expected to launch a simplification drive that could slash headcount, bureaucracy and restructure executive reporting lines across the world’s second-biggest mining group.

Trott, 50, was in London when announced by Rio Tinto’s board as the replacement for incumbent Jakob Stausholm. Trott told colleagues in an email that he was looking ahead to his term as chief executive with “excitement and energy”.