The Government of Canada has awarded Rio Tinto Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) C$18.1 million to support the decarbonization of iron ore processing at its operations in Labrador West.
Canada’s contribution represents approximately 25% of the total cost of the project, with IOC funding the remainder of the investment.
“Rio Tinto IOC has a plan to decarbonize and continue producing some of the lowest carbon-intensity high-grade iron ore products in the world, right here in Canada. This project alone will eliminate approximately 9% of IOC’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rio Tinto IOC President and CEO Mike McCann.
Over the lifetime of the project, the company said it will see a cumulative reduction of about 2.2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The government funding will enable the company to reduce the amount of heavy fuel oil that is consumed in the production of iron ore pellets and concentrate. IOC will install an electric boiler to displace emissions from the usage of the heavy fuel oil boilers, as well as instrumentation and fuel-efficient burners to further reduce heavy fuel oil consumption from induration machines.
Installation of the new equipment will begin in the second quarter of 2024 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
IOC is a joint venture between Rio Tinto (58.7%), Mitsubishi (26.2%) and the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corporation (15.1%).
Source: Rio Tinto