Rio Tinto testing renewable fuel at Kennecott mine

Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon copper mine in Salt Lake County is one of two sites being tested by mining giant Rio Tinto in its plans to swap conventional diesel for renewable fuel in haul trucks at its U.S. operations to reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet. The tests are underway at the Utah mine as well as Rio Tinto’s U.S. Borax mine in Boron, California.

A second trial has been launched at the Kennecott mine in collaboration with Cummins to test{mprestriction ids="1,3"} renewable diesel in a different operational environment and on different mining equipment. The seven-month trial, which started in October, compares acceleration, speed, cycle times, fuel usage and engine inspection reports for two trucks running on renewable diesel versus two trucks running on conventional diesel, complementing the data collected in California.

Both trials support Rio Tinto’s global decarbonization objectives, which include a 50 percent reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030, and a commitment to reach net zero by 2050. The company estimates carbon emissions from the use of diesel in its mobile fleet and rail account for 13 percent of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Simon Richmond, Rio Tinto vice president of global procurement, said, “The renewable diesel trials at our U.S. Borax and Kennecott operations could pave the way for Rio Tinto to be the first mining company in the U.S. to operate a fully renewable fleet. It’s a very exciting step towards reducing the carbon footprint of our U.S. operations.”{/mprestriction}