Rio Tinto is investing US$29 million (C$35 million) to build a new aluminum recycling facility at its Arvida smelter in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada. The investment will enable the company to expand its offering of low-carbon aluminum solutions for customers in the automotive, packaging, and construction markets.
“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,” said Sebastien Ross, managing director of Atlantic Operations, Rio Tinto Aluminium. “This will allow us to continue to meet our customers’ growing demand for responsible and traceable products.”
Increased Use of Post-Consumer Scrap
Construction of the recycling center will include the installation of a remelting furnace equipped with regenerative burners and an automated scrap loading system, which will be installed in an existing building at the Arvida plant. According to the company, the new furnace will be equipped with the latest environmental technologies, delivering best-in-class performance for environment, safety, and metal quality. The center will have an initial capacity of 30,000 tons per year.
The new recycling center will be able to process post-consumer aluminum scrap (both clean and contaminated scrap) sourced locally from used vehicles and construction materials — making Arvida the first primary aluminum smelter in North America to incorporate recycled post-consumer scrap into aluminum alloys. The scrap will be remelted and supplied through the company’s network of facilities in Quebec, allowing for the production of billet and other products with customizable recycled content tailored to customer needs.
According to the company, this will provide greater flexibility in manufacturing low-carbon products using recycled material. As most of the post-consumption scrap generated in Quebec is currently exported, the company is looking forward to sourcing locally while further reducing the carbon footprint of its products.
“This is another investment made to support our customers, grow with them and support their needs,” said Amy Abraham, Rio Tinto VP Sales Aluminium. “Customers are asking us to continuously reduce the environmental footprint of our products, to reduce waste, and to take an even more active role in our communities. We’re proud to respond and deliver on these concerns by offering additional low-carbon aluminum solutions to customers — including products using recycled content. With this new recycling facility, we will continue working closely with our customers to prepare for the future together.”
The new recycling center at the Arvida smelter is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2024.
Recycling Strategy
This investment is the third phase of Rio Tinto’s recycling strategy. In 2020, the company partnered with Shawinigan Aluminium (SAI) to offer its customers closed-loop recycling to complement its low-carbon billet production. Through this agreement, SAI provides recycling services from SAI’s new recycling plant.
At the end of 2021, Rio Tinto also commissioned a new remelting furnace at its Laterrière Plant to recycle aluminum scrap from its internal operations and manufacturing customers. The additional capacity enabled the production of rolling ingots for the automotive and packaging industries.