Insights into Anglo Americans Technology Push in Chile

Anglo American (Anglo) was recently recognized as the most innovative company in the Chilean mining industry for 2022. ESE Business School, University of Los Andes, and the consulting firm, MIC Innovation, select and award each year companies in Chile who they believe are the most innovative.

Anglo’s operations are recognized across the globe and this recent award in Chile demonstrates the company’s commitment to improving efficiencies in its production processes, reducing emissions, and reducing the extraction of fresh water.

Anglo has been quite open about its experience introducing technology to improve operations. So much so that in May 2022, Anglo American’s provided a technology update for its global operations. The information presented provided some useful insights into where the industry is going.

We provided a comprehensive summary of Anglos technology push which can be found here –

Updates on Anglo’s Technology Transformation in Chile

Last week, at the Copper 2022 conference held in Santiago, Rodrigo Subiabre, Anglo’s Innovation and Technology Manager presented some details on the company’s transformation in Chile. Anglo’s Future Smart Mining is designed with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, improving energy efficiency by 30% and reducing by 50% the use of continental water by 2030.

Some of the initiatives mentioned during this presentation –

• Anglo built the first floating solar plant in 2019 on the Las Tórtolas tailings deposit. It started with capacity of 86kW and has been expanded to 3MW with the floating solar panels helping to reduce evaporation of the water so that it can be reused in the production process.
• Using the same solar plant, energy is now being used to power a small demonstration hydrogen plant on site. A hydrogen forklift can run for eight hours on 1kg of hydrogen. The hope is to someday introduce hydrogen trucks across all its operations. Anglo is already demonstrating a US$70m hydrogen truck at one of its operations in South Africa.
• In the Los Bronces/Andina district shares with Codeclo, Anglo has made progress with drilling, transportation, and autonomous remote operations. There are 10 autonomous drills and 28 autonomous trucks operating across the district. Anglo believes autonomous trucks managed remotely from Santiago, can surpass the performance of a traditional truck driven by a human operator, even in snowy conditions.
• As am operational continuity project for its El Soldado mine, Anglo seeks to extend the useful life until 2027 using bulk ore sorting. The technology was first introduced with a capacity of only 900t/h, but with technological improvements, it can now reach 8,000t/h. The technology has been in operation for a year and allows the company to distinguish between high-grade and low-grade ore.
• A large focus has been improving coarse particle flotation. The system, which is also in operation at El Soldado, has allowed flotation at 350 microns, surpassing the previous 150 microns. It is apparently possible for flotation at up to 400 or 500 microns, offering more energy savings.
• Anglo has introduced a technology based on hydraulic dry stacking that allows faster drainage, surpassing the efficiency of other filtering options. Los Bronces floats at a rate of 1,000t/h and the company would like to reach a range of 8,000t/h/.

Conclusion

Anglo American is getting better at discovering new technologies, testing them, and then embedding them into their operations. The pace in which they have been introducing technologies into their operating mines is incredible. Even more impressive is that Anglo has launched its first new mine, Quellaveco, which was built from the ground up with the latest technology imbedded into each stage of the production process.

The idea of the Future Smart Mining program is to reduce the environmental footprint from new ways of mining and using precision mining technologies and data analytics to improve profitability and sustainability. The examples above clearly shows that Anglo is taking steps towards achieving these goals.

For mining technology and service companies, insights into what Anglo American is doing can provide valuable information as to where mining companies are focusing their efforts. The whole industry is facing lower grades of ore, at greater depths, and a need to make operations more sustainable by reducing water usage and emissions. By looking at what Anglo has done, suppliers can use it as a roadmap to position themselves and their technology solutions.  

Ax Legal is an advisory firm that works with foreign companies in Latin America. Our team of legal and commercial advisors have a distinguished track record of helping foreign technology and services companies to grow and operate in Latin America. Over the years, we have worked with starts up, mid-size businesses, and publicly listed companies. The one common factor that connects our clients is that they are leaders in their field, providing innovative technologies and services to the industrial sectors.

To better understand how we can support you in the Region, please contact Cody Mcfarlane at cmm@ax.legal