Rio Tinto will invest $2.9mn on construction of new plant to recover tellurium produced as a by product of copper refining at its Kennecott Mine in Utah.
The maximum production capacity of the plant will be 20mt of tellurium per year and construction will begin by Q4 2021, Rio stated in a recent media release. Copper output at the mine represents 20pc of the US’ annual production with around 140,000mt produced every year.
Apart from producing copper, Rio Tinto’s Kennecott mine also produces gold, silver, lead carbonate, molybdenum and various other minerals.