04:25 AM EDT, 06/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Rio Tinto (RIO) said late Monday it will invest $143 million to build a Western Australia research and development facility to assess its low-carbon ironmaking process.

The BioIron Research and Development Facility near Perth follows trials of the company's ironmaking process at a pilot plant in Germany.

BioIron uses raw biomass and microwave energy instead of coal to convert iron ore into metallic iron. The company said the process has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 95% compared with blast furnaces.