The casting station at the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter in Kitimat, BC.

Rio Tinto Plc RIO-N and Alcoa Corp. AA-N say they have reached a technological milestone in their partnership to develop a new, low-polluting method of aluminum production, as the two mining giants push to bring their industrial know-how to market.

The companies said Thursday that their Elysis joint venture achieved the first implementation of inert anode technology at a commercial scale. The work was done at Rio Tinto’s Alma, Que., smelter and yielded “high-amperage aluminum production with no direct carbon emissions from the smelting process,” according to a news release.

The technology uses inert anodes instead of carbon anodes during the electrolysis stage, emitting oxygen as a byproduct.

Rio Tinto and Quebec to

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