With the Vicuña copper-gold project alone projecting up to 15,000 construction workers, the country faces a paradox: never has the opportunity been larger, and never has filling the roles been harder
Official projections from Argentina's National Mining Secretariat point to mining exports of $36.25 billion by 2035, up from the $6.1 billion record posted in 2025. Pipeline projects will require a minimum capex floor of around $57 billion — $41.2 billion for nine copper projects and $14 billion for twelve lithium operations.
The Feasibility Study projects average annual output of 148,000 tonnes over 22 years, with a $5.4 billion NPV and 27.8% after-tax IRR at the study's $5.45/lb sensitivity price — making Los Azules the first copper project in Argentina under RIGI
What is it like to be a woman leading an energy or mining company? The question is valid, but perhaps incomplete. Because the real challenge — and also the real opportunity — is another: how to build organizations where talent is the decisive criterion for leadership.
It is the seventh lithium project to apply for inclusion in Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), of which three have already been approved. The Chinese mining company has committed an investment of $3 billion to be deployed in three phases.
With Veladero and Diablillos, the sector now accounts for six of the 12 projects approved under the regime. The pending pipeline — led by Glencore with $13.5 billion in copper projects — suggests that share will grow even further.
The company is already executing the second phase of its drilling program, focusing on the western sector of the target, where even stronger chargeability anomalies have been detected than those previously drilled.
The project combining Josemaría and Filo del Sol has defined its logistics route through Chilean ports and structured an international credit line for the initial phase. The plan includes three development stages, a 70-year lifespan, and an average annual copper production of 400,000 tons, generating fiscal and employment impacts for both Argentina and Chile.
This technical study, integrating for the first time the Josemaría deposit in San Juan, Argentina, and Filo del Sol on the Argentina-Chile border, not only confirms the viability of a world-class binational district but also projects $18 billion in investment over the project’s life.
The study provides, for the first time, a unified technical view of the Josemaría deposit in San Juan, Argentina, and the Filo del Sol deposit on the Argentina-Chile border, positioning the project as one of the world’s most significant copper, gold, and silver developments.
Argentina accelerated its geopolitical energy and mining agenda this week, signing a U.S. partnership on critical minerals and a complementary deal with Abu Dhabi and Italy’s state energy company. Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno defended the Washington agreements at the Munich Security Conference.
With Project Vault, the Trump administration is launching a $12 billion megaproject to create a strategic reserve of critical minerals—key to the transition to electric vehicles, batteries and semiconductors—in a bid to reduce reliance on China and strengthen supply chains.
The ministerial meeting, which brought together delegations from 55 countries plus the European Union, focused on strategies to counter China’s dominance in critical minerals processing, seen as a challenge for the energy transition, the technology sector, defense, and artificial intelligence.
