Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to supply low-carbon copper produced using its Nuton bioleaching technology to AWS data centers in the US.

The companies inked a two-year supply deal, with AWS becoming the first customer to use copper produced via Nuton’s industrial-scale deployment at the Johnson Camp copper mine in Arizona, which began production last month. The copper will be used in components across AWS’ US data center portfolio, including electrical cabling, transformers, circuit boards, and cooling systems.

Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, Kara Hurst, said: “Amazon’s Climate Pledge goal to reach net zero carbon by 2040 requires us to innovate across every part of our operations, including how we source the materials that power our infrastructure.

“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 center operations, securing access to lower-carbon materials produced close to home strengthens both our supply chain resilience and our ability to decarbonize at scale.”

Alongside the supply of copper, AWS has agreed to provide Rio Tinto with cloud-based data and analytics services to support optimization of its Nuton process. The technology uses naturally occurring microorganisms to extract copper from primary sulphide ores, eliminating the need for traditional concentrators, smelters, and refineries.

Rio Tinto claims that this approach shortens the supply chain from mine to finished metal and reduces both water use and carbon emissions compared with conventional copper production methods. As a result, the process produces 99.99 percent pure copper cathode directly at the mine site and enables recovery from ore previously considered uneconomic.

Rio Tinto has already deployed AWS digital tools to model heap-leach performance and apply advanced analytics to improve copper recovery while optimizing acid and water use. Rio Tinto claims that the combination of bioleaching and digital tools will allow the system to be scaled and adapt more quickly to different ore bodies.

According to Rio Tinto, the mine’s electricity consumption is matched with renewable energy certificates, and its water intensity is projected to be significantly lower than the global industry average.

Commenting on the agreement, Rio Tinto Copper chief executive Katie Jackson said: “This collaboration is a powerful example of how industrial innovation and cloud technology can combine to deliver cleaner, lower-carbon materials at scale. Nuton has already proven its ability to rapidly move from idea to industrial production, and AWS’ data and analytics expertise will help us to accelerate optimization and verification across operations.

“Importantly, by bringing Nuton copper into AWS’ US data center supply chain, we’re helping to strengthen domestic resilience and secure the critical materials those facilities need, closer to where they’re used. Together we can supply the copper critical to modern data infrastructure while demonstrating how mining can contribute to more sustainable supply chains.”

Rio Tinto is one of the world’s largest mining companies, producing iron ore, aluminium, copper, and other critical minerals. In 2024, it produced about 328 million tons of iron ore, 697,000 tons of copper, and 3.3 million tons of aluminium

AWS has increasingly looked to decarbonize its data center construction process. Last year, the company inked a commercial agreement with Brimstone, a low-carbon cement company based in Oakland, California, to reserve volumes of its cement.