Teck and Freeport join other Chilean copper …
Teck and Freeport-McMoRan[1] joined other leading companies in Chile's copper industry in a working group to address decarbonization. The aim is to standardize traceability standards and calculation methods for scope 3 emissions, one of the greatest challenges in the progress towards carbon neutrality. Scope 3 emissions represent 50% of Chilean mining's total and derive from the use of fuel in land, sea, rail and air transportation, said Herman Urrejola, director of social and environmental management at Canada's Teck[2], in a webinar hosted by Fundacion Chilena del Pacifico on Tuesday.
Scope 3 also considers scope 1 and 2 emissions from suppliers and customers. "Working with mining suppliers is a challenging job, since some companies have more than 3,000 suppliers, located in different geographical areas. Many are local suppliers or small businesses.
The idea is to integrate them into the development of sustainable mining and achieve a just transition," said Viviana Huerta, senior program officer at the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). In order to present scope 3 emissions so everyone uses the same criteria and results can be compared, mining players have met monthly since the end of 2023. The initiative also includes companies such as Anglo American[3], Antofagasta Minerals[4], BHP[5], Codelco[6], Glencore[7] and Lundin Mining[8] together with the association of industrial mining suppliers Aprimin, technology providers group Minnovex and mining public-private sector coordination entity Corporacion Alta Ley.
"This year we will carry out a pilot project with 25 mining suppliers to advance the measurement process," added Urrejola. The work will make it possible to make emissions and even penalties more transparent, added the Teck executive. Milton Valdes, senior climate engineer at Phoenix-based Freeport, said the company has a climate change strategy that includes emission reduction goals at its operations, including resilience measures to face climate change.
When BNamericas asked about the challenges of electrifying mining trucks, Valdes said Freeport is in the process of implementing electrification solutions, although "we still don't take any technology for granted. There's a lack of options in the market. We're part of an early learning program with Caterpillar[9] and Komatsu[10], and we're also working with other large equipment suppliers to analyze technologies and the impact of the change."
He added: "While renewable energy technologies use four to five times more copper than fossil fuel electricity generation, electric vehicles use four times more copper than internal combustion engines."
References
- ^ Freeport-McMoRan (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Teck (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Anglo American (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Antofagasta Minerals (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ BHP (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Codelco (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Glencore (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Lundin Mining (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Caterpillar (www.bnamericas.com)
- ^ Komatsu (www.bnamericas.com)