Loong Keat is an accomplished mining engineer, manager, and mining executive. He worked for 14 years in the tin-mining industry in Malaysia before having a successful career in management and executive positions for Rio Tinto from 1979 to 2001. As General Manager for Malaysia, he was responsible for Rio Tinto's full range of interests in the country. He served for three years as General Manager to the Mining Division of Bougainville Copper in Papua New Guinea, one of the world's largest copper mines, and five years as General Manager for Mt. Tom Price Operations in Australia, one of the world's largest iron mines. Loong Keat then became Executive General Manager of Rio Tinto Asia, and Managing Director/Chief Representative of the Rio Tinto Beijing Office in China. Loong Keat holds a Mining Engineering Associateship of the Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall, England. He is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy/Chartered Professional Management (FAusIMM, CPMan).