Key transactions & industry newsWeekly Update 06/05/2026
What We Found Interesting This Week
Rio Tinto commissions $1.5B AP60 smelter expansion in Quebec. Rio Tinto has successfully started commissioning its $1.5B AP60 smelter expansion at Complexe Arvida in Quebec, marking a major milestone for the deployment of its state-of-the-art, low-carbon aluminum smelting technology.
Rio Tinto’s commissioning of the $1.5B AP60 smelter expansion at Complexe Arvida in Quebec is the first new primary aluminum capacity investment in North America in decades, arriving at a moment when domestic production has rarely carried more strategic weight. The expansion is not simply additive tonnage, it is part of a broader transition at the site where AP60 capacity replaces century-old legacy smelting technology, reducing emissions intensity per tonne produced while sustaining or modestly growing overall output. Rio Tinto is also set to open a 30,000-tonne recycling center at the site in Q4 2026, enabling more efficient blending of primary and secondary aluminum for customers with recycled content requirements that are becoming standard across automotive and packaging supply chains. The trade policy timing is relevant, with US tariffs on Canadian aluminum creating cross-border uncertainty, a large modern low-carbon Canadian smelter producing AP60-grade metal strengthens the case for continued preferential market access and gives Rio Tinto a credible story to tell US-based customers managing tariff exposure. That position is further reinforced by Rio Tinto’s partnership with Matalco, a leading North American recycled aluminum billet producer, which creates a vertically integrated offering spanning primary production, recycling, and downstream billet supply that few regional competitors can replicate. Taken together, these investments place Rio Tinto at the center of the North American aluminum supply chain at a moment when reshoring pressure, decarbonization requirements, and trade volatility are converging to reward exactly this kind of integrated, low-carbon, domestically anchored capacity.
Recent M&A Transactions
Top News Stories
About RJM
RJM & Company is a specialized M&A and capital markets advisory investment bank. We provide boards and management teams of public and private companies with independent advice and expertise in a variety of sectors including road, rail and marine transportation, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, metals and mining, manufacturing, building materials, and other coverage areas of the industrial complex. RJM advises clients on all aspects of transactions including timing, structure, and pricing. RJM originates opportunities and helps negotiate and execute transactions already under evaluation.