Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a tour of Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone.Credit:AAP
Aluminium is considered one of the essential metals needed to decarbonise the economy and arrest the worsening climate crisis because of its wide use in solar panels,wind turbines and electric cars. However,the process of producing aluminium requires vast amounts of electricity and is a major driver of global warming,accounting for about 3 per cent of the word’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Rio Tinto’s deal with Giampaolo,which is subject to regulatory clearance,comes as the mining heavyweight looks to accelerate efforts to slash the significant carbon footprint of its emissions-intense alumina and aluminium businesses,and boost its ability to offer lower-carbon products to meet the needs of increasingly carbon-conscious customers.
Matalco operates six facilities in the United States and one in Canada,with the capacity to produce approximately 900,000 tonnes of recycled aluminium a year.
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Rio Tinto expects US demand for recycled aluminium to grow by more than 50 per cent over the next five years and overtake demand for primary aluminium.
“Investing in recycling is part of our drive to find better ways to deliver the low-carbon materials the world needs and provides a natural extension of our industry-leading primary aluminium business,” Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said.
For Rio Tinto,which earns most of its money from mining the steel-making material iron ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara,the large carbon footprint from its alumina and aluminium looms as one of the biggest challenges to its target of halving its direct emissions by 2030 and reaching “net-zero” emissions – removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it emits – by 2050.