Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a Kennecott event announcing transitions to renewable diesel on Oct. 29, 2024 (Photo by JT Taylor/Rio Tinto Kennecott)
Some of the heaviest haul trucks in Kennecott make the average person look miniature in the vastness of Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine. Just a single wheel is over six feet, and the massive haulers can carry about 320 tons of material in one trip.
Now, all 97 of them, and other heavy machinery equipment at the open-pit mine near Herriman, have been converted to run on renewable diesel, a combination of 90% soybean, plus animal fat and used cooking oil. The change, officials said, is equivalent to taking 107,000 cars off the road.
During the announcement, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox applauded the emissions reduction that could be achieved with the switch.
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“It’s equivalent to removing emissions from 2.3 billion miles traveled by light duty vehicles,” Cox said. “That’s how impressive this is. And again, it demonstrates this willingness to do it voluntarily, without a state mandate or regulations.”
In other words, Clayton Walker, Rio Tinto Copper chief operating officer, said, Kennecott is able to reduce the amount of emissions by about 450,000 tons of carbon a year by burning renewable diesel instead of the regular fuel.
The transition also came with an increased cost of about 8% to 9%, Walker said.
Acknowledging the air quality issues along the Wasatch Front, Cox said that while there was a 12% reduction in emissions between 2017 and 2019 across Utah, there’s still a long way to go.
However, copper plays an essential role in the country’s future energy demands.
“More and more people are driving electric vehicles, everything that we use in our household, smart appliances all use more and more copper. It is estimated that nearly 2 billion pounds of copper are needed to achieve a clean energy power future by 2027 alone,” Cox said.
Kennecott has plans to expand the mine until about 2040. And, in the past, there were some emissions reductions projects, including the closure of a coal-powered energy plant in favor of other renewable energy sources.
That, Walker said, was meant to help mitigate the air pollution in the valley. Now the company purchases all of its power via renewable energy credits. Next year, Kennecott hopes to have reduced its carbon footprint by 80%, compared to 2019 emissions, he added.
“Hopefully we’ll see a little cleaner environment,” Walker said. “It’s not going to fix the inversion, but we’re trying to do our part.”
Other companies around the state are also taking innovative measures to lower their carbon footprint, Cox said. The governor, who has supported the Republican Party’s resistance to phase out coal-fired power plants, argued that while the government will not be able to regulate its way out of the environmental concerns, it can innovate its way out.
“These are the types of innovations that make sense. It saves money and it improves the environment. That’s kind of the Holy Grail, when you can do both of those things. That leads to better outcomes,” Cox said. “You’re going to see more announcements as we head into this legislative session about how to do more energy production and still make sure we’re treating the environment in a way that is good for everybody who lives here.”
The copper business is more important now than it was in 1903 when the mine opened, Cox said. The country needs to stop importing such materials, he added, “especially by the bad guys out there.”
Walker said on Tuesday that continuing copper production in Utah is important for the state’s economy, but also for providing the country with the necessary metals to help make the energy transition work.
“Copper is everywhere. Copper is becoming increasingly more and more vital to making modern life work,” Walker said. “It’s in everything, our cell phones, our computers, our refrigerators. It’s in our cars. It’s in the power that comes in.”
The fuel is sourced from HF Sinclair, which is dedicating two 756,000-gallon tanks to renewable diesel for the mine, according to a news release.
The company has tested renewable diesel since 2023, comparing two trucks running on regular diesel with two others that used the renewable fuel.
Findings in renewable-powered truck acceleration, cycle time, fuel usage and engine inspection reports were successful and similar to those from Rio Tinto’s Boton Mine in California, which made a full transition from fossil fuels in 2023.
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