BHP and the Chilean state-owned Codelco have signed a five-year collaboration agreement that will focus on the accumulated experience of both miners in innovation projects focused on strengthening the sustainability of its operations.
“Our copper is part of the solution to climate change that threatens the planet and must be produced in a sustainable manner, consistent with that cause,” said Codelco chief executive Andre Sougarret.
“In order to imagine these new ways of doing mining, innovation is one of the main axes of our management, a focus that we can only develop in alliance with players who are equally active in this search, as is the case with BHP.”
The agreement addresses the main challenges of the mining industry shared by both companies, among them: the search for technologies that enable the economic exploitation of low-grade minerals, the operation in deep deposits and with complex metallurgical conditions, the design of tasks that use less or no water in their processes and generate the lowest impact on the environment, and the effective exploitation of advanced technologies in representations of mineral exploration.
The collaboration will be guided by a steering committee and implemented by working groups with professionals from the two companies.
Source: BHP