Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares are charging higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining giant closed yesterday trading for $180. In morning trade on Friday, shares are changing hands for $184.27 apiece, up 2.4%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 1.7% at this same time following assertions from US President Donald Trump that a peace deal with Iran is virtually a done deal.
Today's outperformance from Rio Tinto shares will be familiar to longer-term shareholders.
Indeed, shares in the ASX 200 mining stock are up a whopping 71.2% since this time last year, smashing the 2.6% 12-month gains posted by the benchmark index.
But let's not forget that passive income.
If you'd owned Rio Tinto stock this past year, you would have received two fully-franked dividends totalling $5.89 a share. This sees Rio Tinto trading on a fully-franked trailing dividend yield of 3.2%.
Which brings us back to our headline question.
Should I buy the ASX mining share for passive income?
Image source: Getty Images
Are Rio Tinto shares a good buy for passive income today?
Morgans' Damien Nguyen recently analysed the investment outlook for the Aussie mining giant (courtesy of The Bull).
"Rio Tinto is a world class diversified miner with high quality iron ore, aluminium and copper assets generating solid cash and consistent shareholder returns," he said.
Nguyen noted:
Iron ore earnings remain central to the investment case, but are sensitive to Chinese property and infrastructure activity, which continues to face near term headwinds. Copper and lithium assets provide structural growth exposure.
On the passive income front, Nguyen said, "The balance sheet is strong and the dividend remains well-supported, making RIO a sound income holding."
But, keeping in mind that the Rio Tinto share price has leapt more than 71% over the past year, Nguyen maintained his hold recommendation on the stock.
"With the near-term earnings outlook balanced rather than clearly positive, we retain a hold recommendation," he concluded.
What's the latest from the ASX 200 mining stock?
Rio Tinto released its first-quarter (Q1 2026) update on 21 April.
Highlights for the three months included a 13% year-on-year increase in Pilbara iron ore production to 78.8 million tonnes.
Copper production was up 9% from Q1 2025 to 229,000 tonnes.
"Operating excellence drove 9% YoY copper equivalent production growth across our portfolio as the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine continues to ramp up as planned," Rio Tinto CEO Simon Trott said of the strong growth.
Rio Tinto shares closed up 0.8% on the day of the results release.
