Mining Giant Rio Tinto Has Linked Up with The Canadian Government To Reduce The Carbon Emissions
Source：financialpost
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Toronto
Update Time：2022/11/26
Global mining giant Rio Tinto is partnering with the Canadian federal government to invest up to $737 million over the next eight years to boost its production of critical minerals, while reducing the carbon emissions at its Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec.
The announcement with Rio Tinto will create jobs and position Canada as a leader in the critical minerals that go into things like electric vehicles for our net-zero future," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the news conference.
The money, he said, will come through the Strategic Innovation Fund and help the plant in central Quebec cut its emissions in half by 2030 by electrifying furnaces and cutting out the coal.
Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto's CEO, said the investment would help strengthen North American critical mineral production at a time when global tensions highlight the need for secure supplies.
He gave the example of scandium, a mineral that he said was previously produced almost exclusively in Russia and China, but is now being produced in Quebec. He further said critical minerals are also important in several sectors that play key roles in addressing climate change -- including electric vehicles, 3D printing, and aerospace.
"Critical minerals are simply a requirement in order to change the world's energy system," he said.
The investment is expected to create 150 jobs at the mineral processing plant and will be made through the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund. It adds that the funding will support domestic and foreign clean technology supply chains and help make Canada the "global supplier of choice" for the critical minerals and materials needed for the green, digital global economy.
The company said in a news release that the project if it is ever fully implemented and expanded, has the potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions at Rio Tinto's Sorel-Tracy operation by up to 70 percent, which Rio says would be the equivalent of removing about 145,000 cars from the road. The company’s plans also include quadrupling the production of scandium, a mineral used in aluminum alloys that create lighter and stronger electric vehicles (EVs); producing titanium, a material used in the aerospace and automotive industries; and boosting its capacity to produce lithium, which is essential for batteries used in EVs.
Source: https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/ottawa-to-pour-up-to-222-million-in-rio-tintos-quebec-facility