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Over the past few years, our scientists and engineers have been hard at work looking for ways to reduce waste from our mines. How? By finding a use for every material we dig out of the ground and using the by-products of our metal processing operations too.
And while we need to do more to eliminate waste completely, we are making progress.
By extracting valuable minerals from waste – or creating new products from the waste itself – we can reduce the amount sent to landfill, make useful products, create new revenue streams and help our customers meet their sustainability goals.
We need to be better stewards of the orebodies we mine. Our existing orebodies and tailings could actually become resources of the future. It’s about looking at this idea of full value mining: how we can extract more than the classic commodities we produce. There’s already some good examples of the work we’re doing in this area – and we can keep building on this.”
Nigel Steward, our Chief Scientist
Here are 6 useful materials we’re extracting from waste:
At our Boron Operations, California, US, we’re testing a process to extract lithium from waste rock created from over 90 years of mining boron. If our demonstration plant is successful, we could scale up production to 5,000 tonnes of lithium a year – enough to make batteries for around 70,000 electric vehicles.
Our scientists at our Critical Minerals and Technology Centre in Sorel-Tracy, Canada, found a way to get high-quality scandium oxide from the waste created from making our titanium dioxide products. Considered a “critical mineral” by countries including the United States, Canada and Australia, scandium is used is a range of industries including aerospace and defence and clean energy technologies like solid oxide fuel cells. We’re currently trialling a commercial-scale demonstration plant, which can supply approximately 20% of the global market.
At our Kennecott copper operations, Utah, US, we’re building a plant to recover around 20 tonnes of tellurium a year from our copper refining process. We also extract seven other minerals and metals from the copper smelting and concentrating processes: gold, silver, lead carbonate, platinum, palladium, selenium and molybdenum.
Tellurium – one of the rarest elements on Earth – is an efficient converter of sunlight into electricity, so it’s used to manufacture thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Tellurium can also be added to steel and copper, making them easier to cut, and to lead to make it stronger.
We have created a new cement product – Alextra – by working with leading sustainable construction materials company Lafarge Canada. Alextra is made from used pot lining – part of the electrolysis process, where alumina is turned into aluminium – that has been treated to make it safe. Today, all pot lining waste from our Quebec-based aluminium operations is treated to make it safe, and around 80% is recycled into new products.
In the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, we’re working with blueberry growers to make a safe and effective fertiliser from anhydrite. The mineral is normally found in rocks – but we produce around 85,000 tonnes a year in Quebec, Canada, as a by-product of our aluminium production process.
At our QIT Madagascar Minerals operations, we’re creating extra value from around 25,000 tonnes a year of sand by extracting monazite – this is in addition to our core product of ilmenite, used in titanium dioxide production. Monazite is a rare earth mineral with many uses, such as heavy magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
The circular economy is based on reducing the consumption of finite resources by reusing and recycling materials and designing out waste.
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Our valorisation work – where we create products from waste – is one way we’re contributing to the circular economy. We’re also looking at ways we can recycle materials. In the US, our Kennecott copper operation recycles scrap metal – in 2018, we recycled enough to provide the electrical wiring in 6,400 new homes. And in Canada and the US we’re offering our aluminium customers high-quality alloys made with recycled content.
But we know there’s more to do. We are also partnering with industry and academic experts to tackle challenges: in Australia, for example, we’re partnering with the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute to develop technology for rehabilitating waste, known as red mud, created by refining bauxite into alumina – the main ingredient in aluminium.
Stéphane is part of our team whose job is to find new uses for waste.
Doing right by the planet has always been a big part of Stéphane’s life. Growing up, he was taught to never let anything go to waste. Recycling and composting became second nature to him, and got him thinking, “if waste isn’t acceptable at home, why would it be acceptable at work?”
Now, Stéphane brings his passion for sustainability to his role as a leader in our Aluminum business’s Environment and Sustainability team, based in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada. Alongside his multidisciplinary team, he’s focused on finding ways to reduce industrial waste production or convert them into new products.
“If we’re not sustainable, one day there won’t be anything left for the next generation.”
Critical minerals are materials that are hard to get but have important uses. Many of these minerals are used in high-technology devices, such as smartphones and laptops, and green energy technology including batteries for electric vehicles. In the US, we’re partnering with the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute to discover more ways to recover critical mineral by-products economically.
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As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
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