Rio Tinto’s new aluminium alloys promise to support recycling by die casters

Reference image of the Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean operation. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto).

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) announced that it will start producing aluminium alloys designed to allow North American die casters to increase their use of recycled content in the production of automotive parts.

In a press release, Rio said that the new alloy series has been developed for high pressure vacuum die casters to mix with their own scrap and recycled cleaned crushed wheels. 

The products have been developed at the company’s Arvida Research and Development Center, located within the Jonquiere complex in Quebec, which is also home to the Arvida smelter. Rio believes it will be able to produce up to 100,000 tonnes of the new alloy series per year across its Canadian sites.

“We have developed this new series of alloys to help die casters not only produce the highest quality automotive parts, but also enhance their competitiveness and contribution to a more sustainable, circular economy,” Rio Tinto Aluminium vice president of sales and marketing, Tolga Egrilmezer, said in the media brief.

“As an alternative to buying lower grade secondary remelt ingots, the final blend will cost less, have lower carbon footprint and meet stringent industry standards.”