Company: RTNTF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001628280-25-006642
Chunk: 107

Company: RIO TINTO LTD
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 20-F
Chunk 107
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 for the hydrogen calcination project have been completed and construction is in progress. Trials to burn hydrogen in the calcination process are planned to commence in the second half of 2025. 2) Electric calcination. At Vaudreuil, an electric calcination pilot is planned to commence in 2025.

| For our climate briefing paperondecarbonising our Australian aluminarefineries, see riotinto.com/climatechange |

Minerals processing A large source of our process emissions arises from processing titanium dioxide feedstocks (TiO 2 ) in Canada and South Africa. Finding new and innovative technologies to support the decarbonisation of these facilities represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Carbon abatement can be partially realised by transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources for heating and operating these facilities. We are partnering with the governments of Canada and Quebec to support technological innovations to decarbonise our operations by up to 70% and strengthen the critical minerals and metals value chains through the production of titanium metal and scandium. The BlueSmelting TM demonstration plant, which started in April 2023, employs world-first technology developed by Rio Tinto, to reduce emissions from RTIT Quebec Operations. If successful, the technology could be applied to our RBM operations in South Africa, which use the same smelting process. There are other potential applications for BlueSmelting TM technology in decarbonising steelmaking. In 2024, the BlueSmelting TM technology was fully validated for QMM ilmenite ore at our RTIT Quebec Operations, and reduction gas was safely transitioned from smelter gas to hydrogen. Several ilmenite ores were tested with hydrogen and the first tests with iron ore from IOC have been successfully completed. Scaling up low carbon technology for minerals and metals processing is expected to require significantly more renewable energy. Access to hydroelectric power in Quebec requires support from the government-owned provider. In a tight market, access to this supply could be limited and the negotiation period can be time-consuming. Support to streamline discussions and consideration of the supply of additional renewable energy to hard-to-abate Canadian industries, where it can have the greatest impact, could underpin further investment in breakthrough technologies. In 2024, we announced a new joint venture with Aymium named Évolys. We will manufacture a metallurgical biocarbon product to reduce carbon emissions in large-scale industrial processes. The biocarbon product will be used at RTIT Quebec Operations as an alternative to anthracite. Biocarbon