Rio Tinto joins Germany's Salzgitter to study using its iron ore in green steelmaking

(Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto has teamed up with Salzgitter to assess whether its iron ore products can be used to produce carbon-free steel at the German steelmaker's SALCOS green steel project, the companies said on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, they will explore whether Rio's iron ore pellets, lump and fines from its mines in Canada and Australia can be used in the Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking (SALCOS) project in Lower Saxony, Germany.

The agreement comes as Germany looks to speed up its collaboration for green hydrogen production with Australia as part of its efforts to ditch fossil fuels, as well as to potentially feed the country's steel industry.

Salzgitter, Germany's second-largest steelmaker, is eyeing a virtually carbon-free steel production at the SALCOS project, while Rio Tinto, the world's biggest iron ore producer, has a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)