Copper mines like Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon mine on the outskirts of Salt Lake City are on the frontline of America’s transition to clean energy.
Global demand for copper, a serious component of electrical vehicles, is expected to grow from 25 million metric tons to nearly 49 million metric tons by 2035, according to S&P Global.
But miners face a large number of issues as they ramp up production, including addressing the concerns of local stakeholders, mitigating environmental damage and operating in distant regions of the world.
“There’s going to be an actual problem with this transition over the next ten years,” said Tyler Broda, metals and mining analyst for RBC Capital Markets. “It is very, very hard for these corporations to even maintain the level of production that they’ve at the moment.”
Jointly based in Australia and the UK, Rio Tinto is one in all the world’s largest mining corporations with projects in 35 countries. It has 17 iron ore mines in Western Australia that produce material utilized in steel, in addition to mines that produce aluminum, diamonds, and boron, a component utilized in smartphones.
So what is Rio Tinto doing to ramp up production of its critical minerals business? CNBC got a behind the scenes take a look at Rio Tinto’s Utah operation to discover.
Watch the video to learn more.