The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced Thursday that it will soon begin construction of the largest solar power plant in northern Canada on the site of its Diavik diamond mine, two weeks after lowering its climate objectives for 2025.
The plant will enable it to produce a quarter of the energy needed to operate this mine until its closure in 2029.
Rio Tinto plans to install 6,600 solar panels at the Diavik site, 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife near the Arctic Circle, to generate about 4,200 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
In operation since 2003, the life of this mine is coming to an end with a shutdown of commercial diamond production expected in 2026, before a complete closure in 2029.
The bi-facial solar panels will produce electricity from the sun’s rays, but also from the light reflected on the snow, which covers the mine most of the year.
“This important project reinforces our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint,” Angela Bigg, Diavik Mine’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement Thursday.
In late July, Rio Tinto estimated it was unlikely to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2025 due to “underlying emissions growth” in parts of its business.
On Thursday, the company said it was “advancing decarbonization initiatives across its global operations” with a view to achieving “carbon neutrality” by 2050.
However, this objective does not take into account indirect emissions (known as “scope” 3), which are much higher than those of the company’s operations (known as “scopes” 1 and 2).
These are emissions from third parties who burn coal from mines or use iron ore to make steel, for example.
Construction work on the plant in Canada’s North will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be completed early next year.
