The decision of Anglo American to revert to renewable sources of energy only at its copper mines in Chile is a significant one.

Many mining companies that have taken steps to use sun and wind energy have continued to source the bulk of their electricity from carbon-emitting national grids, but Anglo is doing well to spurn that and go the whole hog at the Los Bronces copper mine, as well as its El Soldado and Chagres copper operations in the South American country.

The government of Chile is also to be credited for allowing Anglo to go completely solar and make use of desalinated seawater.

In South Africa, such a step would not be allowed, which is absurd, given the ability to generate clean electricity at a cost below the Eskom tariff.

There is also the need for this country to be less dependent on coal for its electricity and then there is the important global demand for carbon emissions to be cut in the interests of mitigating climate change, earth’s most pressing current problem.

It is crucial that the upcoming review of the Integrated Resource Plan deals with the long-term planning of power generation.

The big coal mining companies are either pulling out of coal altogether or pledging not to expand their thermal coal capacity.

Smaller mining companies are entering the fray locally and they were urged to look inward during last week’s Coal Industry Day, in Johannesburg.

This is because domestic prices for coal are buoyant and no longer so much higher than what can be obtained on the export market, where China and India are pulling in their coal horns.

Anglo CE Mark Cutifani sees South Africa as a country that can emulate Chile in pursuing renewables with far more vigour, not only because of its excellent sunshine and prime wind but also because this country also hosts the overwhelming volume of the world’s platinum-group metals (PGMs), which provide the key catalysis that is needed initially to produce hydrogen and then electricity.

“I think there’s a very exciting future for particularly the PGMs industry to be right at the forefront and we want to be there with South Africa, and we’re going to be South Africa’s partner for the long term,” was Cutifani’s comment to Mining Weekly.

Meanwhile, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which recorded a spectacular 120% increase in half-year headline earnings per share, is screening the opportunities to use hydrogen fuel cell trucks in its fleet that are emission-free.

“We think that, by this time next year, we’ll have the largest fuel cell truck operating anywhere in the world,” Amplats CEO Chris Griffith told Mining Weekly at Amplats’ presentation of sensational half-year results, which ticked every box, including the momentous safety box.

Green mining is an essential credibility preserver for a company like Amplats, which cleans the air of big cities with the PGMs in exhaust catalysts but still pollutes the air of Limpopo province with the diesel fumes from its mining trucks.