PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major BHP has collaborated with US copper cable and wire manufacturer Southwire, for its first carbon neutral copper cathode delivery.

The miner has delivered copper from its mines in Chile to Southwire’s processing activities in Georgia, in the US.

The pilot forms part of a collaboration between BHP and Southwire under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in March that reflects BHP’s Climate Transition Action Plan commitment to support industry to develop technologies for improved traceability and the pursuit of carbon neutral production.

In a first for BHP, the pilot involved tracing BHP copper cathodes and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through Southwire’s rod production operations utilising supply chain traceability provider Circulor’s blockchain-based technology and BHP’s carbon offsetting capabilities.

The pilot aims to leverage BHP’s carbon offsetting capabilities to offer Southwire a carbon neutral copper product during the transition period as we pursue operational decarbonisation and is achieved by the retirement of high-quality carbon offsets against emissions from the production, transportation and Southwire’s processing of the designated copper shipments.

The carbon offsets were sourced from a project in Peru that provides additional sustainability co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, improved water quality and support for local communities.

Through this collaboration, BHP aims to enhance supply chain transparency and demonstrate the broader downstream demand potential for carbon neutral products across the copper value chain, underpinned by credible GHG emissions measurement, reporting and tracing.

“We are taking concrete action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the copper value chain,” said BHP minerals Americas president Rag Udd.

“Partnerships like the one with Southwire enable industry to collaboratively move forward in building a low-carbon world and to reduce emissions from existing products. We are committed to helping lead this change, to create social value through sustainable copper production practices, and to working together to support greenhouse gas emission reductions in the copper value chain.”

BHP group sales and marketing officer Michiel Hovers pointed out that this was BHP’s first ever ‘carbon neutral’ sale of any of its commodities.

“The pilot helps improve understanding of greenhouse gas emissions in the copper value chain and demonstrate the role high-quality offsets can play, as a complement to operational decarbonisation.”

“This is an impressive partnership that we are forging with Southwire in successfully incorporating blockchain into our supply chain and exploring the role of carbon offsets in providing ‘carbon neutral’ copper during the transition period. We are constantly exploring innovative ways of decarbonising across all our commodities businesses and are delighted to be bringing key partners like Southwire on board to challenge, learn and improve what can be done in this space,” Hovers said.