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    Rio Tinto spending $87 million to boost Lower Carbon Aluminum production in Quebec

    Nov. 22, 2021
    The multinational mining firm will add 16 new smelting cells at its AP60 smelter
    Rio Tinto aluminum smelter in Quebec (Image credit Rio Tinto)
    Rio Tinto aluminum smelter in Quebec (Image credit Rio Tinto)

    Miner Rio Tinto is spending $87 million to add 16 new smelting cells at its AP60 smelter in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec to boost its low-carbon aluminum production.

    The new pots will add to its existing 38 pots at the AP60 technology center. The addition of the new smelting cells will boost production capacity at the smelter by around 45% to 86,500 metric tons of production capacity.

    Work is expected to start in spring 2022 and complete by the end of 2023. The miner will study the potential to add more cells to its AP60 site.

    “Rio Tinto is committed to strengthening its position as a leader in low-carbon, hydro-powered aluminum production to meet the clear demand from our customers in North America and Europe,” said Rio Tinto Aluminum chief executive Ivan Vella, “Our AP60 technology is one of the most energy efficient, environmentally friendly and cost effective systems in commercial production today. It produces some of the world’s lowest carbon aluminum with renewable hydropower here in Quebec. We are assessing options for further investments, as we progress development of the ELYSIS™ zero carbon smelting technology with our partners."

    Rio Tinto's research and development teams developed the AP60 technology, which emits 7-times less greenhouse gases than the industry average. The AP60 technology pots, set up initially, have produced more than 465,000 tons of low-carbon aluminum. 

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.