Amazon Web Services has made a historic iron deal with mining giant Rio Tinto
Key receivers
Rio Tinto and AWS announce strategic copper partnership using bioleaching technology. Bioleaching technology extracts copper with reduced carbon emissions and water use compared to traditional methods.
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Amazon Web Services (AWS), a large-scale cloud hosting and online services provider, has entered into a two-year deal with giant Rio Tinto's proprietary bioleaching venture Newton.
AWS will be the first customer of copper produced at Johnson Camp Mine using Newton's innovative bioleaching technology. Copper is used in AWS' US data centers, which use an environmentally friendly copper extraction method from Newton.
The partnership includes cloud-based data support from AWS to facilitate Newton's bioleaching operations, aiming to reduce water and carbon emissions compared to traditional copper processing methods.
Rio Tinto's head of copper, Katie Jackson, said the collaboration demonstrates how industrial innovation combined with cloud technology can support clean and low-carbon materials at scale.
“Nutton has proven its ability to move quickly from idea to industrial product, and AWS's data and analytics expertise helps us accelerate optimization and validation across operations,” she added.
According to Cara Hurst, Amazon's Chief Sustainability Officer, working with Newton Technology will allow for the production of a fundamentally different type of copper that reduces carbon emissions and water consumption.
“Amazon's climate pledge goal of reaching net zero carbon by 2040 requires us to innovate in every part of our operations, including how we source the materials that power our infrastructure,” said Hearst.
“As we continue to invest in next-generation carbon-free energy technology and expand our data center operations, securing access to low-carbon materials produced close to home will strengthen our supply chain resilience and ability to decarbonize,” she added.
