Chile's Codelco renews clean energy contract with Canada's Innergex

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, said on Monday it had renewed a clean energy contract with Canada's Innergex Renewable Energy for its Gabriela Mistral division in Chile's northern desert region.

Innergex owns 55% of Pampa Elvira Solar, which generates heat through solar thermal collectors to recover dissolved copper, a process called electrowinning, which has allowed the replacement of about 60% of the fossil fuel used.

The solar system replaces diesel consumption in water heating boilers.

"This clean energy project allows us to avoid the emission of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, at the same time that we achieve savings of more than $2 million per year," Mauricio Acuna, Codelco's vice president of provisioning, said in a statement.

The contract, effective from April 1, will run until Dec. 31, 2032.

Chile's mining industry has made rapid progress in procuring clean energy for its processes as it attempts to reduce its carbon footprint.

Codelco Chairman Maximo Pacheco has said the company is adjusting its strategy to produce more sustainable copper to address growing environmental concerns.

(Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero; Writing by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Richard Chang)