Overview
- Amazon Web Services will be the first customer to take copper produced with Rio Tinto’s Nuton bioleaching at the Johnson Camp mine for use in its U.S. data centers.
- AWS will provide cloud-based data and analytics to help improve Nuton’s heap-leach performance, targeting better recovery and lower water and carbon use.
- The companies did not disclose financial terms or specific volumes for the two-year arrangement, according to Reuters.
- Nuton’s process produces 99.99% copper cathode at the mine site, shortening the supply chain by bypassing traditional smelting and refining.
- Industry reporting cites roughly 14,000 tonnes of Nuton copper over four years plus about 16,000 tonnes from conventional leaching, a modest share of Amazon’s needs as analysts forecast a 50% rise in global copper demand by 2040 and LME prices have climbed about 40% year over year.