Sheer postulating on my part, but is it possible that Fortune and Rio's collaboration "to develop technology that will improve recovery of the critical minerals cobalt and bismuth" receives assistance from Rio's
Centre for Future Materials led by London's Imperial College - seems like a project which is aligned with the goals of the new centre, which are to "transform the way vital materials are produced, used and recycled, and make them more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable". As a side note, the
Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College, which does multi-disciplinary research developing a sustainable energy supply, has published work which is highly optimistic about bismuth's role in a sustainable world. Some rarefied speculation, but what the heck.
https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/releases/2023/rio-tinto-commits-150-million-to-centre-for-future-materials-led-by-imperial-college-london https://energyfutureslab.blog/2020/11/16/bismuth-based-semiconductors-for-sustainable-energy-harvesting/