About Nuton
3 decades of R&D to unlock copper for the future
Nuton is a Rio Tinto venture founded on 30 years of research and development. Although our research is vast, our ambition has been focused from our beginning – producing better copper with a smaller environmental footprint.
A leader within the industry, Rio Tinto’s commitment to finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs backs everything we do. The first leaching tests that served as the foundation for our technologies were conducted at Bundoora in Melbourne, Australia, in 1996. After further development, Nuton launched as a corporate startup in 2021. We’re now working with several key partners to deliver lower footprint copper production, documented in ongoing, collaborative viability studies.
As we look to the future, we see opportunities to use the power of our technologies to help progress global decarbonisation.
Why Nuton?
We unlock value from hard to process ores and achieve copper recovery rates above industry benchmarks. Among primary copper sulphides, we can recover up to 85% of copper, well above traditional heap leach processes. Our technologies benefit a wide array of applications including brownfield and greenfield sites, waste rock and tailings, complex ores, and historic sites.
At Nuton, our ambition is to produce copper with the world’s lowest footprint and stretch ourselves to achieve Positive Impacts in at least one of our five pillars: water, materials, energy, land and society.
Care
for people, for the communities in which we operate, and for our environment
Courage
to challenge the status quo and reshape industry conventions
Curiosity
about what is possible, to innovate, and to embrace diversity
Our values
Nuton shares the values at the core of Rio Tinto´s strategy.
We are a diverse team of curious and creative pioneers who responsibly explore the boundaries of what is possible through imagination, science and partnership. Our ideas and thinking are grounded in data, science and engineering. We focus on value beyond the sum of the parts.
Our Purpose
Through our innovative nature-based bioleach technologies, we strive to unlock copper resources while pursuing a Positive Impact ambition. Together with our partners, we aspire to transform the industry and make a significant contribution to a decarbonised future.
Nuton’s team
Our dynamic team takes an innovative approach toward reshaping both the future and legacy of copper mining. Uniting diverse backgrounds, areas of expertise, and experiences, we challenge mining conventions and industry assumptions to reframe the way we view and value mining as a society.
7
nationalities
50%
gender diversity
6
countries globally
10
languages spoken
Nuton senior leadership team
Adam Burley
CEO
Harald Muller
CTO
Antonio Pucci
COO
Roberta Kuehne
VP, Commercial
Cecilia Perla
VP, Sustainability
Javiera Alcayaga
Manager, Strategy
Nuton, nature based alchemy
It is with the support of Rio Tinto that Nuton is possible. A leader within the industry, Rio Tinto’s commitment to finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs backs everything we do. Its courage in investing more than 30 years and substantial resources in pioneering research and development serves as the anchor for our endeavours.
Make real change
Working at Nuton is more than a job, it’s a chance to make a difference. The world needs copper and our team is dedicated to producing it while contributing to better outcomes for the environment, society and the economy.
Ready for this challenge?