The company has reportedly set aside US$498 million of funding to increase production from 2024 with plans to potentially deliver around 250 thousand tonnes of additional mined copper over the next 10 years.
This follows plans in September 2022 to mine an extra 30 thousand tonnes of copper from the site until 2027, the company said.
Rio Tinto is also undertaking a US$300 million rebuild is also underway at the Kennecott smelter and investing US$120 million to upgrade the refinery tank house structure and the molybdenum flotation circuit.
“We are investing to build a world class underground mine at Kennecott and strengthen our processing facilities, to meet the growing demand for copper in the United States, a key material for domestic manufacturing and the energy transition,” said Rio Tinto Copper CEO Clayton Walker.
