Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares have just wrapped up what was an exceptionally lucrative year. The ASX 200 mining giant rose from $117.46 a share at the end of 2024 to the $146.82 we saw the miner close out 2025 at last week. That's a gain worth almost exactly 25%.
Much of these gains came in the latter half of 2025, with the Rio share price rising more than 44% between late June and late December. Not bad, considering the broader market's gains for 2025 were far more muted at just under 6%. Particularly given that Rio investors also enjoyed two decent dividends over the year just gone, worth about 4% at current pricing.
Despite these rosy returns, Rio shares have evidently not decided to rest on their laurels now that 20206 is underway. Since 1 January, Rio Tinto stock has put on another 1.4%, including today's gains of just over 1%.
What's even more exciting, though, is Rio Tinto's new all-time record high.
Yep, Rio Tinto shares hit a new record this Monday. After opening at $148.29 a share this morning, today's trading saw the miner get as high as $150.14 a share.
Not only is that price a new all-time high for Rio, but it is also the first time in the company's long history that we have seen a '$150' at the front of its ticker.
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A long time coming for Rio Tinto shares' latest record high
It's taken a long time for Rio shares to get to where they are today. Way back in 2008, Rio reset what was then its record high by reaching $123 a share. But the global financial crisis quickly put a stop to that momentum. It took until 2021 for Rio Tinto shares to finally topple that previous high.
Even today, someone who bought Rio shares at that 2008 peak and kept holding would only be up by about 22% from that 2008 high. That doesn't include dividends, which would have improved that rather paltry metric substantially.
So why are Rio shares doing so well in early 2026?
Well, investors seemed to have taken note of how well commodity markets fared in 2025. As my Fool colleague Bronwyn noted last week, raw materials saw significant price spikes last year. Copper, aluminium, silver, and lithium all saw healthy increases, and all happen to be metals that Rio Tinto mines and processes.
Given Rio's large-scale operations and relatively low cost bases, perhaps investors are piling in anticipation of further price rises, or possibly broader economic inflation. Let's see how Rio Tinto shares fare over the rest of January and beyond.
