Rio Tinto Signs Decarbonisation Deal With China's Nanjing Steel

Mining giant Rio Tinto has signed a deal with a Chinese steel company to limit the carbon emissions generated by its iron ore exports.

The world’s biggest iron ore miner, which has its head office in Melbourne, said on Friday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nanjing Iron and Steel Co (NISCO) on decarbonisation technology in ironmaking.

Technical teams from both companies will work closely on exploring pelletizing, using Rio Tinto’s ore from the Pilbara region in northwestern Australia and the application of biomass.

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Rio’s flagship product Pilbara blended fines are typically used to make sintered ore, used in blast furnaces to produce hot metal.

But pelletization usually requires higher grade iron ore, which is helpful for reducing carbon emissions along the steel value chain.

“We are pleased to have reached a new milestone in steel carbon reduction … the low carbon transition in the steel industry needs high-quality raw material and massive technological innovation,” said Simon Farry, head of steel decarbonisation at Rio.

Upstream mining giants have accelerated cooperation with their big consumers on decarbonising the steel value chain to cope with climate change.

Rio Tinto last year signed a MoU with China Baowu, the world’s biggest steelmaker by volume, to develop projects aimed at enabling lower grade ore to be used in low-carbon steelmaking.

It’s rival BHP Group and Chinese steel company HBIS Group Co Ltd, agreed last March to trial carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies at the Chinese firm’s steel mills.