The project Fondo de Estudios y Ayudas al Sector Privado (FASEP) was signed, in which the French government will provide funding to bring technology-based solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of small mining in northern Chile.
CyM and Micreau Chile are participating in this project, developing an energy supply model based on green hydrogen and whose beneficiary entity is ENAMI, channeling the solution to small miners.
This activity was attended by Olivier Becht, France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, and the Minister of Mining, Marcela Hernando. French companies and research institutions involved in the sustainable exploitation of copper and lithium also participated.
During this meeting, two memorandums of understanding were signed that will allow the financing, through the Fund for Studies and Aid to the Private Sector (Fonds d’études et d’aide au secteur privé, FASEP) of the French government, of two projects that bring together French companies and
This project is led by CyM and Micr’eau and aims to equip two Chilean low-scale mines with hydrogen fuel cells to replace traditional diesel generators that are often unreliable. This initiative will be carried out in conjunction with Empresa Nacional de Minería.
ENAMI’s executive vice-president, Jaime Pérez de Arce, said that “this is the possibility of carrying out a project in which we can transform all the company’s work, from the extraction of small-scale mining to the final production of electro-refined cathodes, a virtuous circle of green mining. For us it is an emblematic project because it allows us to take a very important leap forward in the modernization of the model of promotion that the state-owned company has with small-scale mining”.
This agreement demonstrates the interest of both countries (Chile and France) in the importance of the mining industry’s firm commitment to the energy transition.
