Originally posted January 16, 2026.
The boom in building artificial intelligence datacenters has set off a race for electricity to power them all, but that isn’t the only race for resources that AI’s buildout has sparked. Critical minerals like copper are also in high demand, and according to reports, Amazon has purchased the first new copper shipment from the United States in years. The copper comes from Rio Tinto’s Nuton subsidiary, which is working at the Johnson Camp Mine in Arizona, using innovated bioleaching technologies to remove copper from low-grade deposits. Nuton explains:
What began in a small lab in Bundoora, Australia, has scaled to full industrial operations – proving that cleaner, smarter copper production is possible at industrial scale.
“This is a pivotal moment for Nuton,” says Adam Burley, Nuton CEO. “We’re not just advancing technology – we’re setting a new standard for the industry and proving what’s possible: fast and at scale. We are incredibly proud of the team and excited for what is to come, which is validating and sustaining the technology’s performance.”
This milestone marks Nuton’s official entry into commercial operations and is a pivotal step in redefining how copper is produced. The Nuton® technology enabled the restart of JCM, owned by Gunnison Copper Corp, and moved from concept to cathode in just 18 months.
Rapid scale-up: concept to cathode in 18 months
One of the most significant aspects of Nuton’s achievement is the speed of its progress – from concept to cathode in just 18 months – an unprecedented speed in Rio Tinto. This included recommissioning the mine, constructing new infrastructure, and deploying proprietary equipment.
Nuton’s approach is different from the norm – offering a modular ‘brick-like’ system that can be deployed as part of a technology package that integrates biology with chemistry, engineering, and digital tools. By embedding advanced systems like AI, data analytics, and adaptive process controls into every layer of the JCM operations, Nuton is building a truly intelligent, responsive system. This digital backbone enables predictive insights and continuous improvement, making the system not only efficient but intelligent.
Pioneering the science of smarter copper: up to 85% recovery and unlocking copper faster
At the heart of this achievement is Nuton’s revolutionary technology, which harnesses the power of naturally occurring bacteria to extract copper from ores. These microbes are grown in Nuton’s proprietary bioreactors and then added to heaps of crushed ore. They speed up the breakdown of minerals, creating heat and allowing copper to dissolve into a liquid solution, which is then refined into copper cathodes that are 99.99% pure.
And a key differentiator? Up to 85% recovery of copper from primary sulfide ores – often considered too complex or uneconomical to process – where over 70% of the world’s untapped copper lies.
Transforming the copper industry with the lowest-carbon copper in the US
Nuton’s technology, along with investment in renewable technology, will position JCM to become the lowest-carbon copper producer among US copper mines.
A new three-year investment in Renewable Energy Certificates ensures that 100% of JCM’s electricity consumption is matched by U.S. or Canadian renewable energy generation, mitigating all Scope 2 emissions.
A recent ISO-certified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) prepared for JCM indicates copper produced at site, combined with the purchase of RECs, will result in a mine-to-metal carbon footprint of just 0.82kg CO2-e per kilogram of copper, compared to the projected 2026 global of 3.4 kg CO2-e per kilogram of copper.
The big picture: closing the US copper supply gap
This milestone will help enable a more resilient domestic copper supply chain – critical for the world’s energy transition, national defense, and advanced manufacturing. With US copper demand projected to grow more than 48% over the next decade, and approximately half of refined copper currently being imported, the Nuton technology provides a pathway to help close the domestic supply gap.
By producing the copper cathode at the mine site, the Nuton process eliminates the need for smelting and refining elsewhere – a major advantage as the US lacks capacity for refining copper. Nuton’s process streamlines the journey from mine to market, reducing the reliance on foreign processing and shortening the supply chain.
The project has already resulted in the sale of approximately 100 tons of copper cathode to North American customers, generating Nuton’s first revenue. The Johnson Camp operation is designed to ramp up toward its capacity of 25 million pounds of finished copper cathode annually.
Action Line: Artificial intelligence isn’t just the nuclear renaissance. It’s creating demand all across the spectrum of industry. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
