Rio Tinto’s Kennecott expands solar power

Rio Tinto has approved construction of a new 25-megawatt solar plant at its Kennecott copper operation in Utah, bringing the mine’s total solar capacity to 30 MW. It will be located next to an existing 5-MW solar plant. “Expanding our solar farm is the latest step in our journey to reduce our carbon footprint. Together with other measures we’ve taken,…

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Rio Tinto exec seeks faster permitting under Trump

A Rio Tinto executive said U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s new administration should focus on speeding up the permitting process for its stalled Resolution copper mine in Arizona, reported Reuters. The mine could supply more than one-quarter of the country’s domestic copper needs. The new Trump administration would be able to either approve or block the proposed underground operation. The news…

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Kennecott completes switch to renewable diesel

Rio Tinto has finished the transition from conventional to renewable diesel for all heavy mining equipment at its Kennecott copper mine in Utah.  The miner said the move is expected to reduce Kennecott’s Scope 1 emissions by 450,000 tonnes. Additionally, the switch to renewable diesel reduces PM2.5 emissions at the tailpipes of its haul truck fleet by 40%. “The transition…

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Diavik mine starts underground production

Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories has moved into commercial production at its A21 underground operation, which was developed beneath the previously mined A21 open pit. The construction of the underground mine involved the development of over 1,800 meters of underground tunnels to access the orebody. With safety as the core focus, the miner noted that there…

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Coming clean

Canadian-based Movex talks material cleanup with its new technology, removing the complexities and safety issues of under-conveyor and crushing maintenance and optimizing cleaning conditions. By William Nicholls In the mining sector, efficiency in material cleanup during the crushing and conveyor processes is critical. It inevitably impacts a mine’s output, number of downtimes, resource allocation, worker safety and operational costs. Use…

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Rio Tinto awards $875,000 for critical minerals research

A Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) professor has been awarded $875,000 from Rio Tinto for a two-year project to examine new techniques to recover critical minerals in the waste byproducts from copper extraction and refining. “Our project will test new chemical dissolution strategies and purification techniques to produce pure gallium and germanium compounds from these waste materials,”…

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Rio Tinto to keep Resolution’s copper in U.S.

A Rio Tinto senior executive said that the miner aims to keep all of the copper from its Resolution mine inside the United States should the long-delayed and controversial project win regulatory approval, reported Reuters. “Certainly if Resolution comes on stream, all of that copper we would like it to be sold in the U.S.,” said Bold Baatar, head of…

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Talon Metals, Argonne to improve domestic battery production

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has entered into a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement with Talon Metals on developing a new process to use mining waste in electric vehicle battery production. The process will use iron sulfides from Talon’s by-products in its nickel production to synthesize lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathodes, which are increasingly used in…

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Sustainability critical for Resolution Copper

Edited by Donna Schmidt The ore deposit at Resolution Copper in Superior, about 60 miles east of Phoenix, Ariz., lies nearly 7,000 feet below the earth’s surface and represents one of the most significant untapped copper deposits today. Once fully operational, the mine will have the potential to supply nearly 25% of U.S. copper demand. Edgar Cossio is a senior…

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Access to Arctic mines disrupted by mild winter

An unusually warm Canadian winter delayed the opening of a 400-kilometer ice road that is reconstructed every year to access several diamond mines in the remote Arctic region, reported Reuters. The news agency said the Winter Road opened with a two-week delay in February, the longest delay in recent years, disrupting movement of goods. While diamond production remains unaffected, the…

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