2024-02-21 20:28:53
Since La Alumbrera, Argentina’s largest open pit copper and gold mine, ceased operations at the end of 2018, no other copper projects have come online in the country. Despite sharing a mountain range (and minerals) with Chile and Peru, which supply almost 30 percent of the world’s minerals, Argentina has not produced or exported minerals for six years. Like lithium, copper is considered a strategic mineral for the energy transition, and is an essential resource for the electronics, renewable energy and electromobility industries. Its demand is expected to double by 2035.
The replacement of internal combustion vehicles with electric versions that require five times more copper for their production, the massification of renewable energies such as solar and wind parks that require three times more copper than thermal generation plants, and the development of new infrastructure that support growing electrification, will amplify demand for the mineral.
Projection
According to an S&P projection on the future of the covers worldwideare demand raises a shortage hypothesis. According to the agency, by 2035 the copper shortage may reach almost 10 million tons (equivalent to about 50 world-class projects). Argentina has six world-class projects of the 23 that exist in the country in conditions to begin construction in the short and medium term. According to the Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs (CAEM), implementations would reach an average level of 1,066 thousand tons per year (equivalent to 10 percent of the global copper deficit in 2035). .
This projection would place the country as the sixth largest producer of copper in the world, behind Chile (which produced 5,200,000 tons of copper in 2023), Peru and Congo (2,200,000 tons each), China (1,900,000 tons) and United States (1,300,000 tons).
In Argentina CAEM calculates that, based on public information on the projects and provided by the companies in charge, the first copper exports They could be carried out in 2027 with the period of works and maturation of the necessary investments. That year, the country could export 317 million dollars in copper, a figure that would quadruple as the projects that are currently in pre-operational stages begin to operate. “By 2035, they would reach 8,341 million dollars, which for the country would mean an increase of 10 percent in the value of its exports in 2022,” they say from the Chamber. As a reference, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) reported that in all of 2023, lithium carbon exports represented 807 million dollars.
In addition to exports, CAEM projects that these six projects would involve capital outlays of at least $20 billion and generate between 30,000 and 43,000 new jobs from 2027. This would mean a growth of 30 and 40 percent of current mining employment. .
Projects
“Copper is the great objective of this administration,” the then Secretary of Mining, Flavia Royón, had titled during an event in San Juan a few days before Javier Milei asked for his resignation. With the position still vacant, there are at least six advanced world-class copper projects that must be facilitated by the next official who occupies that seat so crucial for the country’s foreign exchange generation.
Jose Maria It is the closest to starting. According to CAEM, a chamber to which the company is a member, its construction will begin in 2024. Property of the Canadian Lunding Mining, it is located in the extreme northwest of the province of San Juan in the Iglesia department, a province where three of the six most advanced in the country. The start of operations was in 2002 and its capital cost is 4,000 million dollars. The project plans to produce 136,000 tons of copper per year (in addition to gold and silver) and generate about 4,000 jobs in construction and about 1,000 in operation, with a useful life of at least 19 years.
In 2025 it is scheduled to begin operating Taca-Taca, located about 35 kilometers west of the town of Tolar Grande in Salta. Taca Taca is positioned in world rankings as one of the ten largest projects according to its resources. It has an estimated investment of 3,583 million dollars and could produce 244,000 tons/year of copper concentrate, as well as gold and concentrated molybdenum. Operated by another Canadian company First Quantum Mineral and its local subsidiary Corriente Argentina, the project is in the feasibility stage.
Saint George It is still in the pre-feasibility stage according to Mining information, but CAEM assures that construction would begin in 2025. Located in the town of Las Heras in Mendoza, it requires an investment of 462 million dollars.
The next project that would begin operations according to CAEM is The Blues, In San Juan. Operated by the Canadian mining company McEwen Mining, it plans to begin construction in 2026. It has an estimated investment of 2,462 million dollars and could produce 146,057 tons of copper cathodes over the 27-year useful life of the mine. According to the Ministry of Mining, it is in the preliminary economic evaluation stage.
El Pachón, also located in San Juan, could begin construction in 2027. Operated by the Swiss mining company Glencore, it is the one that requires the greatest investment: 6 billion dollars according to CAEM. The mining company is currently working on the feasibility study stage of the project and on the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report that will be submitted to the authorities for consideration. The Project consists of the development of an open pit mine to extract copper and molybdenum, and process it by flotation. Added to Los Azules and Taca Taca, they represent 66 percent of Argentina’s total copper resources and reserves. Its construction and commissioning will require more than 12 billion dollarsmore than half of the total investment projected for the six projects ($19.2 billion).
The list is completed by the project Minera Agua Rica Alumbrera (Mara), in the pre-feasibility stage, which is proposed in Catamarca as a connection with the closure of Bajo de la Alumbrera and which could take advantage of the existing infrastructure associated with the ex-mine, now disused, for its development and operation. Its construction could begin in 2027 and will require a total investment of 2.7 billion dollars.