The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price has gone through plenty of volatility in the past few years, as the chart below shows.
But, it's clear to see that the business has been on a great run over the last 12 months.
It's normal for ASX mining shares to go through significant valuation changes because of how much commodity prices can shift in a few months, depending on what's happening with supply and demand, as well as the overall global economy.
Let's consider how much the ASX mining share has jumped and what has supported that.
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Huge gain for the Rio Tinto share price
At the time of writing, over the last year, the Rio Tinto share price has risen 65%. That's an extremely strong performance considering the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has only risen 3.5% in the last year. Thanks to that gain, a $10,000 investment a year ago is now worth approximately $16,500.
Rio Tinto shares have outperformed both Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) shares and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) in the past year, as they have only increased 45% and 63%, respectively.
It's rare for an ASX blue-chip share to go up that much in such a short period of time. Why has Rio Tinto do so well? I'd put it down to the strength of the resource prices, as well as the impressive production growth of iron ore and copper.
Commodity price and production performance
In the first quarter of 2026 it reported global iron ore production of 82.8mt, which was growth of 12% year-over-year and copper production grew 9% to 229kt. Alumina production increased by 6% to 2mt.
Another positive from the ASX mining share's quarterly update was that it's starting to produce lithium – it reported 12.7kt of lithium carbon equivalent (LCE). Lithium could become an increasingly important element of the business if it's able to capitalise on its lithium project plans and the lithium price remains as supportive as it is now for profit margins.
Rio Tinto noted how commodity prices changed, comparing the average of the 2026 first quarter to the average of the fourth quarter of 2025. The iron ore price was slightly higher, the copper price was 16% higher, the aluminium price was 13% higher and the lithium carbonate price was 84% higher.
When you put all of the above together, it's easy to see why investors are more exited about the ASX mining share now than a few months ago or a year ago.
But, after such a big rise of the Rio Tinto share price, there may be cheaper opportunities out there.
