LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The board of directors of global miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L), (RIO.AX) needs more mining and renewable energy experience, mining lights and a more diverse geographical background, its chairman Dominic Barton said on Friday.

"I think there's a lot of changes that need to occur. On the board we need the mining experience," Barton said in a pre-recorded interview at the FT Mining Summit in London.

"I think that capabilities on the renewable energy side (are) going to be quite important to have," he added.

The seven independent directors on the board of the mining giant have mostly experience in finance, capital markets, law and oil and gas. They are all either British or Australian.

"We're operating in 35 countries and we are an Australian, British kind of board, but we work a lot in Africa, we do a lot in China...we're doing a lot in Mongolia," he said.

"We have to think about our diversity on that front or our capability. So those are some of the areas that we need to focus on."