Rio Tinto is investing U.S. $29 million (C $35 million) to build a new aluminum recycling facility at its Arvida Plant in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, to expand its offering of low-carbon aluminum solutions for those in the automotive, packaging, and construction markets.
The facility will make Rio Tinto, what the company says is, the first primary aluminum producer in North America to incorporate recycled post-consumer aluminum into aluminum alloys.
Clean aluminum scrap sourced locally from used vehicles and construction materials will be remelted to produce recycled content used in aluminum billets at the Arvida smelter and other products from Rio Tinto's Quebec facilities.
"Investing in new recycling facilities in Arvida is another step in our strategy to expand our offering of low carbon aluminum products and integrate the circular economy into our value chain," says Rio Tinto Aluminium Managing Director of Atlantic Operations Sebastien Ross. "This will allow us to continue to meet our customers' growing demand for responsible and traceable products."
The recycling centre is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2024 and will have an initial capacity of 30,000 tons per year. Construction will begin in 2022 with a remelting furnace equipped with regenerative burners and an automated scrap loading system installed in an existing building at the Arvida plant.
The project is expected to generate C$30 million of economic benefits in Quebec and will create around 10 new permanent jobs at the Arvida Plant.
