Diversified mining company Anglo American hoped to have a truck running on hydrogen in the next 12 months, technical director Tony O’Neill said last week, when he spoke of foreseeing the company’s installed diesel fleet one day being replaced by an electrical alternative.

To test the departure from the use of carbon fuels in the company’s operations, O’Neill disclosed during Anglo’s yearly sustainability presentation, covered by Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly, that power had been sufficiently oversized to provide hydrogen for use in mining vehicles.

A graphic displayed during the presentation hosted by Anglo CE Mark Cutifani showed solar panels providing electricity for the hydrogen used by haul trucks and highlighted the delivery of enduring value through the transformational use of renewable energy.

The approach was to produce hydrogen with excess photovoltaic power and then allow that hydrogen to be consumed in trucks. This provides energy security, price resilience and lower greenhouse-gas emissions and facilitates a move to the hydrogen economy using the next generation of mining vehicles. All this also offers the opportunity for community participation.

“We looked at the trucks and re-engineered the way they work and found that, all of a sudden, we could get 5% to 10% more out of them,” said O’Neill in outlining Anglo’s intent to create a smart energy mix that allowed it to be carbon neutral and have an entirely different footprint.

“And that leads us straight to hydrogen,” he added.

“I think it’s actually the key to unlocking the industry. With that in mind, we’re starting to work out how we get the technology to fit the business model, rather than worrying about the finances. We can see a pathway through that and our aim is to get, hopefully in the next 12 months, a truck running around using hydrogen,” he said.

During question time, O’Neill spoke of the “absolute trend” towards the electrification of mining.

“I can see the day coming when our installed diesel fleet gets replaced by electricity. So . . . you come back to the power source and I go back to my earlier hydrogen story. I think the world is missing a trick with hydrogen. Everyone is focused on cars and, for the life of me, you’re introducing a mobility issue into the whole equation. Why people aren’t focusing on the generation of baseload power is beyond me, because that’s where the game really is made,” he said.

London- and Johannesburg-listed Anglo, which has become a formal supporter of the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), is fully aligning with TCFD recommendations, which require companies to test their resilience in quantitative terms regarding their impact on climate change, including their contribution to not exceeding a 2 ºC temperature increase.

The company has halved its coal footprint in the last five years and does not intend acquiring additional thermal coal assets.