Rio Tinto, the British-Australian mining corporation active in South America and other regions of the world, has opened a $150 million research center to “transform current mineral extraction approaches to support the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.” Established at Imperial College in London, the Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials aims to tap so-called blue sky research to find more efficient, lower-impact means of mining. Blue sky research is scientific investigation whose real-world applications are not immediately apparent but which at times has yielded outcomes more valuable than those of agenda-driven research. The first project will be to investigate new ways to produce copper, of which Chile is the world’s main supplier and Peru the third, says Imperial College’s Sarah Gordon, co-director of the new center. Copper is considered a material crucial to the world’s energy transition. Fast-rising demand for... [Log in to read more]