Rio Tinto to invest $87 mil to increase Canadian low-carbon aluminum production

Rio Tinto will invest $87 million to increase its low-carbon aluminum production in Canada through the installation of 16 new smelting cells at its facility in Quebec, the company said Nov. 17.

The investment at the company's AP60 smelter, located in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, will boost production from a current 26,500 mt/year of primary aluminum to a capacity of 86,500 mt/year, an increase of about 45%, according to the company.

The expansion comes as Rio Tinto projects that the global aluminum market will grow at an average rate of 3.3% annually over the next decade, driven by global energy transition and decarbonization efforts.

The 16 new pots will be built in the existing building of the Complexe Jonquière's AP60 technology center, which currently has 38 pots, Rio Tinto said.

Work on the project will begin in the spring of 2022 and the company expects it to be completed by the end of 2023. At the same time, Rio Tinto will study the potential to add more AP60 cells at the site, it said.

Rio Tinto's AP60 technology generates seven times less greenhouse gases than the industry average, according to the company. Since their commissioning in Saguenay in 2013, the initial AP60 technology pots have produced more than 465,000 mt of low-carbon aluminum, it said.

Rio Tinto is assessing options for further investment as development of the ELYSIS zero carbon smelting technology progresses with its partners, Rio Tinto Aluminium Chief Executive Ivan Vella said in a statement.

ELYSIS aims to produce zero-carbon aluminum, commercializing a new technology to eliminate all direct greenhouse gases from aluminum smelting, and instead produce pure oxygen.

S&P Global Platts has expanded its offerings in the low-carbon aluminum and steel space to include its European Low-Carbon Aluminum Premium and Zero-Carbon Aluminum Premium assessments and three additional US carbon-accounted aluminum spreads references launched Aug. 13 that allow users to compare low-carbon feedstocks with traditional higher-carbon inputs.