RIO News & Events

Rio Tinto and the Western Australian Government have entered into a 50:50 joint venture to complete both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Dampier Seawater Desalination Plant. Once fully operational, the plant will deliver 8GL of desalinated water per year to the West Pilbara Water Supply Scheme, reducing pressure on regional aquifers. The West Pilbara Water Supply Scheme is operated by Water Corporation and supplies the towns of Karratha, Wickham, Dampier, Roebourne, Point Samson and the industrial areas of Cape Lambert and the Burrup Peninsula. Construction of Stage 1 of the desalination plant is underway and is expected to begin delivering 4GL of annual desalination capacity later this year. Stage 2 construction, which will add a further 4GL of annual capacity, has commenced, with first water expected in 2027. Together, Stages 1 and 2 will significantly reduce abstraction from the Bungaroo and Millstream aquifers. The A$1.1B Dampier Seawater Desalination Plant, which will be operated by Rio Tinto, will considerably reduce groundwater take and help protect sites of environmental and cultural importance.

Rio Tinto announced that it is moving forward on a research and development project to extract primary gallium from its alumina refining process in Quebec, with a conditionally approved contribution from Natural Resources Canada under the Global Partnerships Initiative. Plans are underway to build a demonstration plant with a capacity of up to 4 tonnes of gallium per year on the same site. The Government of Canada has conditionally approved a non-repayable contribution of up to C$18.95M in the project, in addition to the C$7M committed by the Government of Quebec in December 2024. Rio Tinto Aluminium and Lithium Chief Executive Jerome Pecresse said: "Our Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec, Canada is a strategic asset for our integrated aluminium operations. Extracting gallium from our existing refining process would create additional value from this asset and strengthen the North American supply chain for gallium, a critical mineral used in everything from high-performance radars, to smartphones, electric cars and laptops."