Antofagasta Minerals, as part of the group’s Climate Change Strategy, will install equipment to simulate the operation of a hydrogen-fueled mine haulage truck at the Centinela mine to test its operation and performance in real mining conditions. The use of hydrogen as a fuel would allow the group to further reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the company.
“We decided to participate in this project to contribute to the development of new technologies that will help us tackle climate change,” CEO Iván Arriagada said. “With innovations such as this, we can move faster toward our goal of making our operations carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest.”
Antofagasta Minerals will be the first mining company to set up the pilot scheme to advance the use of hydrogen in large mining equipment, such as mine haulage trucks. The project, promoted by the Hydra Consortium, aims to develop and test the technology needed to replace the use of diesel in these heavy-duty vehicles and thus reduce GHG emissions.
Members of the Hydra Consortium include Engie, Australian mining think tank Mining3, Csiro Chile, Mitsui & Co. (USA) Inc. and now Antofagasta Minerals.
Fuel cells and a prototype battery-powered powertrain will be installed to simulate the operation of a hydrogen-fueled mine haulage truck at Centinela. The project, which is supported by Corfo, Chile’s Economic Development Agency, will test the operation of the equipment and its performance in real mining conditions, including extreme temperatures and high altitudes.
This initiative is part of the Electromobility Plan of the group’s Climate Change Strategy with the objective of generating the conditions that enable the use of hydrogen in mining and to understand its real potential to replace diesel.
“We are very pleased to contribute to the development of the use this new fuel and to test it in real mining conditions,” said Carlos Espinoza, general manager of Centinela. “If this pilot scheme delivers favorable results, we hope to have mine haulage trucks using hydrogen in another five years.”
As part of its Climate Change Strategy, Antofagasta Minerals has adopted measures to mitigate the potential impacts of its operations. In 2018, it was one of the first mining companies to commit to a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target, and set a target of reducing emission by 300,000 metric tons (mt) of CO2e by 2022. Thanks to a series of initiatives, the Group not only met its target two years early, but also almost doubled it, reducing emissions by 580,000 mt by the end of 2020.
In May this year, the group announced two new targets. The first was a short-term target to reduce its direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 30% by 2025, compared to 2020, equal to a reduction of 730,000 mt of CO2e. The second was a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, or earlier if technology permits, a goal similar to that of Chile.
With these goals in mind, Antofagasta Minerals has converted all its electricity supply contracts to use only clean energy sources and by the end of 2022 all four of the group’s mining operations will use 100% renewable energy.