Codelco like the rest of the world’s Tier 1 miners is betting on zero emission mining trucks and was a founder member of Komatsu’s GHG Alliance. The largest copper producer in the world and the main Chilean state-owned company says it it accelerating its path towards carbon neutrality by 2050, seeking to eliminate diesel from its open pit mining trucks. Developing mine haul trucks that produce zero emissions is the objective of the Komatsu Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Alliance to which Codelco signed up as part of the new impetus that the mining company is giving to an innovation model which is open to collaboratively developing solutions to the challenges of its next 50 years of life.
“Codelco is implementing a total transformation in its management, where sustainability in the way we produce copper plays a fundamental role. We have to produce copper in a sustainable way, to supply society with a future of mining that will allow the development of clean economies and help in the fight against climate change,” said Renato Fernández, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Codelco. To face this challenge, Codelco has made five commitments to 2030 in terms of sustainable development. The first of these goals is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030, to which was recently added a new announcement of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 or earlier.
“To move towards the goal of zero emissions, the most important steps will be to reduce direct emissions, Scope 1, replacing fossil fuels in our production processes, mainly in our mining trucks. We are constantly prospecting the innovation ecosystem, hence our interest for working collaboratively with suppliers such as Komatsu, joining as a founding member of the Komatsu GHG Alliance and joining efforts to move towards the use of new sources of clean energy for this equipment, including the use of hydrogen,” explained Julio Díaz, Corporate Manager of Innovation from Codelco.
Within the framework of this collaboration, the mining company will make available valuable data, human resources and analysis for the development of pre-feasibility studies of different clean energy sources to be used in the development of Komatsu zero-emission trucks. These investigations will provide Codelco with access to essential information for its analysis and decision-making regarding medium and long-term energy supply for its fleets, while Komatsu will take advantage of Codelco’s mining experience to achieve scalable projects for the mining industry.
“We are pleased to welcome Codelco to the GHG Alliance and begin working together to advance the development of zero emission transportation solutions. Rapid innovation requires collaborative work and we are honoured to have our customers join us in this challenge,” said Masayuki Moriyama, President of the Mining Business Division of Komatsu Ltd.
To achieve zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Codelco has also joined two other initiatives that seek to accelerate innovation to develop zero-emission mining trucks. These are: the Charge On Challenge and the ICMM Innovation for Cleaner and Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiatives. All these alliances seek to advance the main direct source of greenhouse gases from mining, the large mining trucks used in open pit mining.
The state-owned company has set clear and measurable goals in the short term with three main focuses of action that are also in line with the challenges recently defined in COP26: go to a 100% clean electricity matrix, achieve 100% electromobilised underground mines, reduce emissions from its mining extraction trucks and actively participate in the development of new technological solutions such as green hydrogen, amongst others.
