Rio Tinto has entered into a partnership agreement with the Swedish investment company Vargas, Mitsubishi Corporation and other international and local industry partners to study a low carbon aluminum greenfield opportunity in Finland.

As the strategic industrial partner, Rio Tinto will provide the Arctial partnership with access to its proven industry-leading AP60 technology (earlier post) and assist in what would be the first AP60 deployment in an aluminum smelter outside Québec, Canada. Developed by Rio Tinto, AP60 is amongst the most efficient aluminum smelting technologies currently available at commercial scale.

As a first step, Arctial will conduct a feasibility study and environmental impact assessment for a potential greenfield aluminum project in Kokkola, Finland.

The project, if successful, would be the first primary aluminum development in continental Europe for more than 30 years. Together with Fortum, the leading carbon-free energy provider in the Nordics, the project will assess sourcing competitive low-carbon energy from existing and new production assets. Other local and industry partners include the Finnish Industry Investment (TESI) and international technology leaders.

We aim at being a significant investor and off-taker in this partnership, which is aligned with our strategy to strengthen our global leadership in low-carbon aluminum. Combining our AP60 technology with electricity not based on fossil fuels presents an attractive opportunity to provide low carbon aluminum, which will boost Europe’s industrial base and support the manufacturing capabilities required for the energy transition.

—Rio Tinto Aluminium chief executive Jérôme Pécresse

Rio Tinto AP60 and APXe pots enable a step change in pot technology by overcoming the challenges of very high amperage (500-600kA). Both AP60 and APXe are based on the same optimized framework (busbars, shell and superstructure) and operating equipment. The anode assemblies, cathodes and linings, ventilation and gas flow differ to meet the respective needs of each technology: high labor productivity and low CAPEX/t for AP60 and very low energy consumption and low OPEX/t for APXe.