SAGUENAY, Que. — Rio Tinto says it will make a $1.4-billion investment to expand an aluminum smelter equipped with low-carbon technology in Saguenay, Que.
The Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant says it plans to build 96 new pots that use the greener AP60 technology on an existing site adjacent to the 97-year-old Arivda aluminum smelter.
The announcement today eases anxiety over jobs ahead of that plant’s closure in 2025, and gives more weight to Rio Tinto’s claim to being a producer of green aluminum, with the newer facilities emitting far fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
The investment at the Jonquière Complex roughly 200 kilometres north of Quebec City would eventually churn out 220,000 tonness of primary aluminum per year, over 360 per cent more than its current output.
The company says the amount could furnish enough for 400,000 electric cars, though the total falls short of the 400,000-tonne smelter that was pledged in 2006 by former owner Alcan Inc. — acquired the next year by Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm says the investment marks the company’s largest in Quebec — and also in the West — in a decade, with the province granting $150 million in funding support.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.
The Canadian Press
