Rio Tinto in talks with Apple on next step of carbon-free aluminum project

“Rio Tinto is in talks to move into the next phase of an agreement with Apple, Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said on Friday, as the miner looks to transition its aluminum business to tap a low-carbon economy,” Melanie Burton reports for Reuters. “Last May, Rio and Alcoa announced a joint venture, backed by Apple, to commercialize by 2024 a process that emits oxygen and replaces all direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process for aluminum.”
“‘At the end of the day, what we can see is the customers of our customers want to have full traceability on their products, and they want to make sure they have a carbon-friendly product,’ Jacques said on Friday at the unveiling of Rio’s new Amrun bauxite mine in northern Australia,” Burton reports. “‘The technology that we are developing is – instead of using the carbon anodes – is to use an anode made of ceramic so you would not consume any carbon, and you would not release any CO2 into the atmosphere,’ he said.”
“‘We are looking at the next wave of partnership with Apple,’ Jacques said, although he provided no further details,” Burton reports. “‘(We will show) that Amrun is part of the supply chain, so we can demonstrate from the bauxite to the aluminum in your iPhone or in your laptop, we fully understand the entire chain and that is consistent with what customers like Apple want,’ Jacques said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Last May, aluminum giants Alcoa Corporation and Rio Tinto Aluminum announced a joint venture to commercialize patented technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process, a key step in aluminum production. This is a revolutionary advancement in the manufacturing of one of the world’s most widely used metals.
Apple helped accelerate the development of this technology and the company has partnered with both aluminum companies, and the Governments of Canada and Quebec, to collectively invest a combined $144 million to future research and development.
For more on Apple’s environmental initiatives, visit apple.com/environment.
SEE ALSO:
Apple launches $300 million China Clean Energy Fund – July 13, 2018
Apple says they’ve found a ‘revolutionary’ way to make their devices even more environmentally friendly – May 11, 2018
Apple paves the way for breakthrough carbon-free aluminum smelting method – May 10, 2018