Copper mines like Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon mine on the outskirts of Salt Lake Metropolis are on the frontline of America’s transition to clean energy.
World demand for copper, a serious element of electric vehicles, is anticipated to develop from 25 million metric tons to just about 49 million metric tons by 2035, in response to S&P World.
However miners face a large number of points as they ramp up manufacturing, together with addressing the issues of native stakeholders, mitigating environmental harm and working in distant areas of the world.
“There’s going to be an actual drawback with this transition over the following ten years,” stated Tyler Broda, metals and mining analyst for RBC Capital Markets. “It is rather, very onerous for these firms to even keep the extent of manufacturing that they’ve in the meanwhile.”
Collectively based mostly in Australia and the UK, Rio Tinto is likely one of the world’s largest mining firms with tasks in 35 international locations. It has 17 iron ore mines in Western Australia that produce materials utilized in metal, in addition to mines that produce aluminum, diamonds, and boron, a element utilized in smartphones.Â
So what’s Rio Tinto doing to ramp up manufacturing of its critical minerals enterprise? CNBC acquired a behind the scenes take a look at Rio Tinto’s Utah operation to search out out.
