Rio Tinto has unveiled plans to build a new plant that will recover tellurium from copper refining at its Kennecott mine near Salt Lake City, Utah.
The $2.9 million plant, which will recover tellurium as a byproduct of copper smelting, will have a capacity to produce approximately 20 tonnes of tellurium per year.
Tellurium is a critical mineral used in solar panels. It can also be used as an additive to steel and copper to improve machinability, and can be added to lead to increase resistance to sulfuric acid, vibration and fatigue.
Rio Tinto Kennecott managing director Gaby Poirier said the company expects to begin production of tellurium in the fourth quarter of 2021, creating a new North American supply chain for this critical mineral.
“The minerals and metals we produce are essential to accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” Ms Poirier continued.
“Adding tellurium to our product portfolio provides customers in North America with a secure and reliable source of tellurium produced at the highest environmental and labour standards with renewable energy.
“Rio Tinto is committed to using innovation to reduce waste in our production process and extract as much value as possible from the material that we mine and process.”
