SANTIAGO, April 10 (Reuters) - Chile's state-owned
Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, said on Monday it
had renewed a clean energy contract with Canada's Innergex
Renewable Energy for its Gabriela Mistral division in Chile's
northern desert region.
Innergex owns 55% of Pampa Elvira Solar, which generates
heat through solar thermal collectors to recover dissolved
copper, a process called electrowinning, which has allowed the
replacement of about 60% of the fossil fuel used.
The solar system replaces diesel consumption in water
heating boilers.
"This clean energy project allows us to avoid the emission
of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, at the same time that
we achieve savings of more than $2 million per year," Mauricio
Acuna, Codelco's vice president of provisioning, said in a
statement.
The contract, effective from April 1, will run until Dec.
31, 2032.
Chile's mining industry has made rapid progress in procuring
clean energy for its processes as it attempts to reduce its
carbon footprint.
Codelco Chairman Maximo Pacheco has said the company is
adjusting its strategy to produce more sustainable copper to
address growing environmental concerns.
(Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero; Writing by Alexander
Villegas; Editing by Richard Chang)
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