Amazon becomes first buyer of Rio Tinto's Nuton bioleached copper

Under a two-year agreement, AWS will use the first Nuton copper produced in components of its US data centres, while also providing cloud-based data and analytics support to help accelerate the optimisation of Nuton’s proprietary bioleaching technology at Gunnison Copper’s Johnson Camp operation in Arizona.

Rio said data centres are copper-intensive facilities, using the metal in applications such as electrical cabling and busbars, transformer and motor windings, printed circuit boards and processor heat sinks.

Nuton is also leveraging AWS platforms to simulate heap-leach performance and integrate advanced analytics into its decision-making systems. This is aimed at optimising acid and water use and improving predictions for copper recovery. The modular bioleaching system extracts copper from primary sulphide ores using naturally occurring microorganisms, enabling faster scaling and customisation across different ore bodies.

The process produces 99.99% pure copper cathode at the mine gate, eliminating the need for traditional concentrators, smelters and refineries and significantly shortening the mine-to-market supply chain. Rio said the technology is projected to use substantially less water and generate lower carbon emissions than conventional concentrator-based processing routes, while also unlocking value from ore previously classified as waste.

Rio Tinto Copper CEO Katie Jackson said the partnership demonstrated how mining and digital innovation could combine to deliver cleaner materials at scale.

“This collaboration is a powerful example of how industrial innovation and cloud technology can combine to deliver cleaner, lower-carbon materials at scale. Nuton has already proven its ability to rapidly move from idea to industrial production, and AWS’s data and analytics expertise will help us to accelerate optimisation and verification across operations,” she said.

Jackson added that supplying Nuton copper into AWS’s US data-centre supply chain would help strengthen domestic resilience for critical materials.

“Importantly, by bringing Nuton copper into AWS’s US data-centre supply chain, we are helping to strengthen domestic resilience and secure the critical materials those facilities need, closer to where they’re used. Together we can supply the copper critical to modern data infrastructure while demonstrating how mining can contribute to more sustainable supply chains,” Jackson said.

Amazon chief sustainability officer Kara Hurst added that the collaboration aligned with the company’s Climate Pledge commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.

“This collaboration with Nuton Technology represents exactly the kind of breakthrough we need – a fundamentally different approach to copper production that helps reduce carbon emissions and water use,” Hurst said.

“As we continue to invest in next-generation carbon-free energy technology and expand our data centre operations, securing access to lower-carbon materials produced close to home strengthens both our supply chain resilience and our ability to decarbonize at scale,” she added.

According to Rio, a recent third-party life-cycle assessment confirmed that Johnson Camp is now the lowest-carbon primary copper producer in the US on a mine-to-refined-metal basis, with Nuton copper expected to have a full-scope carbon footprint of 2.82 kgCO2e/kg of copper. This compares with a global range of about 1.5 kgCO2e/kg to 8.0 kgCO2e/kg for primary copper, depending on production method and technology.

The company noted that Nuton ensures 100% of the site’s electricity consumption is matched with renewable energy through the purchase of 134 000 Green-e Energy-certified renewable-energy certificates. Water intensity at the operation is anticipated to be about 71 ℓ/kg of copper, compared with a global industry average of about 130 ℓ/kg.

The Johnson Camp Nuton deployment is targeting production of about 30 000 t of refined copper over a four-year period.