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As electric vehicles (EVs), renewable power sources and home energy storage become more affordable and widely adopted, the world will need more of the minerals and metals that make these technologies work.
To help us meet this growing need, in 2021 we launched a new Battery Materials business, which will see us add essential minerals like lithium, nickel and tellurium to our product portfolio.
But sourcing, mining and producing these rare minerals at the scale needed to meet future demand is no mean feat. Here are some of the ways we’re working to meet this in a responsible way.
In a recent episode of the Global Lithium podcast, Rio Tinto’s Managing Director of Battery Materials, Marnie Finlayson, discussed our vision and strategy for battery materials, our role in the energy transition and our outlook for the lithium market.
One way we’re working to meet growing demand for high-quality materials is finding promising new projects to scale up responsibly.
With its direct extraction technology, our new Rincon Lithium Project in Argentina is helping us achieve that. It’s a large, scalable, undeveloped lithium-brine project that’s capable of producing battery-grade lithium carbonate with potentially one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry.
We’re also partnering with Talon Metals on a joint venture at Tamarack – the only high-grade nickel, copper and cobalt project in the US, located in central Minnesota.
The way we produce our materials can have just as much of an impact on the energy transition as what we produce. But we can reduce the impact of our activities by reusing and recycling as much as possible at every stage of our process.
At our technology centre in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada, we’ve found a way to get scandium – another critical mineral – from titanium dioxide production waste. Scandium is an essential material in technologies such as EV batteries and solid oxide fuel cells.
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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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