Rio Tinto to build solar park to power Canadian diamond mine

Mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) on Thursday unveiled plans to build what it says will be the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) park in Canada's North, to provide electricity to its diamond mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The solar farm will be installed at the miner’s Diavik mine and will generate 25% of the power needed during its planned closure. Commercial production from the site is due to be halted early in 2026, with the scheduled closure works to run until 2029.

To be equipped with more than 6,600 bi-facial panels, the PV park will be capable of producing around 4,200 MWh of electricity annually, which will lower diesel consumption at the mine by roughly one million litres annually. With construction slated to begin in the coming weeks, the plant should be switched on in the first half of 2024.

The government of the Northwest Territories is backing the solar project with CAD 3.3 million (USD 2.5m/EUR 2.2m), while an additional CAD-600,000 were provided through the Canadian government’s Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit.

Rio Tinto aims to slash its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030 and become net zero by 2050. The company already operates a 55.4-MW wind-diesel hybrid facility at the Diavik mine.

(CAD 1.0 = USD 0.744/EUR 0.678)

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