Global mining and metals company Rio Tinto announced the launch of a new strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will include providing AWS with its new low-carbon, low-water “Nuton” copper, and Rio Tinto using AWS technology to advance its Nuton production.
Rio’s Nuton is a bio-heap leaching technology that enables copper to be produced from resources that were previously too technically challenging or expensive to process in any other way, while eliminating the need for smelting and refining. The process uses a biological leach process that transforms copper-bearing rock or mine waste into 99% pure copper cathode, by utilizing a carefully cultivated culture of micro-organisms and creating favorable conditions for microorganism activity, allowing them to multiply by harnessing energy from the minerals in the rock, to grow and concentrate the copper.
In addition to extending mine life and maximizing resources, the process is expected to enable up to 80% less water usage and up to 60% lower carbon emissions than the traditional concentrator route for copper production.
Rio Tinto announced in December 2025 its first industrial-scale Nuton technology deployment at Gunnison Copper’s Johnson Camp mine in Arizona.
The new collaboration will see AWS become the first Nuton technology customer, with the company using the first Nuton copper ever produced in components of its U.S. data centers. AWS has been working with various companies to use lower-carbon materials such as concrete and steel for construction of its data centers, as part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge to achieve net zero by 2040, as well as to reduce the water impact of its data centers.
Amazon’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst said:
“This collaboration with Nuton Technology represents exactly the kind of breakthrough we need—a fundamentally different approach to copper production that helps reduce carbon emissions and water use. As we continue to invest in next-generation carbon-free energy technology and expand our data centre operations, securing access to lower-carbon materials produced close to home strengthens both our supply chain resilience and our ability to decarbonize at scale.”
The new collaboration will also see AWS providing cloud-based data and analytics support to accelerate the optimization of Nuton’s proprietary bioleaching technology at Johnson Camp mine, with Nuton also utilizing AWS platforms to simulate heap-leach performance and feed advanced analytics into Nuton’s decision systems, allowing for optimized acid and water use while improving predictions for copper recovery.
Rio Tinto Copper Chief Executive Katie Jackson said:
“This is a breakthrough achievement for our Nuton technology, which is proving that cleaner, faster, and more efficient copper production is possible at an industrial scale. In an industry where projects typically take about 18 years to move from concept to production, Nuton has now proven its ability to do this in just 18 months.”
