Peru and Chile team up to promote use of green hydrogen in mining

The two countries form an alliance to develop a roadmap aimed at promoting fuel in the mineral industry

With the aspiration of becoming the main carbon neutral mining hub in the world, taking advantage of the input considered to be the fuel of the future, Peru and Chile
offer favorable conditions for the generation of renewable energies, informed the Minister of Mines and Energy of Peru, Óscar Vera. The information was published on BNamericas.

Joint initiatives are needed to make a big impact on decarbonizing the industry. The Minister of Mining of Chile, Marcela Hernando, identified as the biggest challenge to achieve sustainable activities in relation to communities and their territories, which has advanced in the country with measures of reuse and desalination of water, incorporation of electric energy in vehicles and the use of renewable energy in production processes.

In 2022, clean energy supply contracts signed by mining companies in Chile represented 40% of their total consumption. The value would reach 65% in 2025. For its part, the Sernageomin national geology service has prepared a guide to implement pilots and validate technologies based on green hydrogen, since it is a consensus that the decarbonisation of mining in complex tasks such as transport or the consumption of ammonia in detonation will only be achieved with the help of technologies and with green hydrogen.

But first it is necessary to offer competitive technologies in terms of costs and efficiency so that the internal offer and the demand increase and the opportunities are capitalized, commented the executive president of Corporación Alta Ley, Fernando Lucchini.

One of the focuses of the roadmap is to reduce scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in mining operations. For Scope 1, it is essential to replace diesel in open pit operations, waste fuel in smelters and refineries, and diesel and natural gas in electrolytic extraction in copper mining, the roadmap states.

Green hydrogen can contribute a 20% reduction in emissions in Chile and Peru by 2030, said Rubén Pérez, general manager of consultancy Inner Green Engineering.

Meanwhile, it is necessary to promote the piloting of zero emission mining trucks and to incorporate synthetic fuels as transition in boilers, furnaces, smelting, refining and electroextraction processes, in addition to renewable energies.

By: Santelmo Camilo