Rio Tinto commissions new Canadian remelt furnace

Rio Tinto has added 22 000 tonnes of recycling capacity to its aluminium operations in Canada by commissioning a new remelt furnace at its Laterrière plant in the Saguenay Lac-Saint Jean region of Quebec.

The two-year project has been completed at a cost of US$ 8.4 million (EUR 7.8 million). The remelt furnace is equipped with more efficient burners to minimise its carbon footprint. Rio Tinto says it offers rolled product customers in the North American automotive and packaging industries a sustainable supply solution combining low-carbon and recycled aluminium.

Sébastien Ross, Rio Tinto’s md Atlantic operations says: ‘With the commissioning of our new remelt furnace, we are now offering our customers an additional solution to recycle scrap from their manufacturing processes and turn it into high quality, low carbon aluminium alloys. Rio Tinto will continue working closely with our customers and partners to support the transition to a circular economy.’

The rolled product recycling service complements a closed loop Rio Tinto introduced for billet customers in 2021. In 2016 the company launched RenewAl, a certified low CO2 primary aluminium brand.

Additionally, a partnership with Alcoa supported by Apple and the governments of Canada and Quebec, known as ELYSIS, is currently scaling up a direct greenhouse emissions free aluminium smelting technology.