Mining
Andes Corporación Minera S.A., the company that holds the Los Azules copper project, has signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement with Banco de San Juan S.A. and Grupo Petersen’s Mining Unit so that suppliers, workers and producers in Calingasta and across the rest of San Juan province can access credit, guarantees, training and technical support as the project moves toward construction.
The agreement supports the local supplier development commitment that Los Azules made when it joined Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), which grants tax, customs and foreign exchange benefits to large projects; the project’s adhesion was approved in 2025. According to the joint statement released on November 3, building and operating the mine will require companies and people from San Juan, from the rest of the country and from abroad, and the agreement aims to ensure that San Juan firms and workers reach that stage with greater capacity to participate and compete.
The project, which McEwen Copper is developing in the Calingasta department, has been under the regime since September 25, 2025, under Resolution 1553/2025 of the Ministry of Economy, with a total declared investment of $2.672 billion.
The Agreement Adds Credit for Companies and Modern Irrigation for Calingasta Producers
The text is organized around four workstreams. The first targets suppliers: strengthening San Juan companies with credit and guarantee tools so they can expand their participation in the Los Azules value chain. The second is aimed at people, with collaboration on technical and vocational training, financial education and educational initiatives in Calingasta and across the province.
The other two workstreams go beyond the mine’s supply chain. On the territorial front, the parties commit to contributing local technical capacity to infrastructure and service needs, in coordination with the relevant authorities. On the productive front, the agreement provides for supporting producers with tools to modernize irrigation, use water more efficiently and diversify their activity, with the stated goal of generating value beyond mining.
“Los Azules will be built with talent and companies from all over Argentina and the world, but we want San Juan to play a leading role. This agreement adds tools so that more suppliers and workers from Calingasta and the province can expand their participation and their ability to compete,” said Michael Meding, president of Andes Corporación Minera S.A. and managing director of McEwen Copper, who had detailed the project’s financing strategy in an interview with Shale24 in August.
“We know San Juan’s companies and families. We are putting our financing, guarantee and training tools to work so that more San Juan companies and people grow alongside mining investment,” said Silvina Bellantig, head of Grupo Petersen’s Mining Unit and a director of Banco San Juan.
The Mining Unit brings together the capabilities of Grupo Petersen companies and institutions to support mining activity in Argentina, and draws on more than two decades of work by Banco San Juan with mining companies and suppliers in the province.
Each Action Will Be Formalized Separately, With Targets, in Line With San Juan’s Local Mining Development Law
The signing opens a working phase. From now on, the parties will organize the agenda, set priorities and evaluate the first actions to develop suppliers and strengthen local capabilities. Each action will be formalized separately, with targets and results monitoring, in line with Provincial Law 2827-M on Local Mining Development, the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and the Principles of the United Nations Global Compact. The agreement complements Los Azules’ own policies and leaves the project’s procurement processes unchanged.
San Juan enacted Law 2827-M in July 2026, establishing a framework to promote local employment, the development of local suppliers and the growth of communities linked to mining, according to an analysis by law firm Baker McKenzie. To register under the regime, companies must meet criteria on local establishment, operational activity, local employment and economic presence in the province. That is the universe of firms the agreement with Grupo Petersen targets: those already established in San Juan that need financing to grow at the pace of construction.
Nationally, small and medium-sized enterprises in the energy and mining value chain also have access to the tax benefits of the Medium Investment Incentive Regime (RIMI), which Argentina’s tax and customs agency, ARCA, has already enabled.
Los Azules Plans $3.17 Billion in Initial Capital and Aims to Decide on Construction in Mid-2027
Los Azules is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper deposits, according to the company. The Feasibility Study (FS) published in October 2025 calls for initial capital of $3.17 billion, a separate figure from the $2.672 billion investment plan approved under the RIGI, along with 22 years of production (21 of mining) and average output of 148,200 tonnes per year of copper cathode, rising to 204,800 tonnes per year over the first five years. Using 2024 data from S&P Global, the company ranks that projected output 26th among the world’s 423 copper producers.
The design calls for heap leaching and solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) to produce 99.99%-pure cathodes on site, with no smelter, 74% lower water consumption than a conventional milling operation, 100% renewable electricity and no tailings dams. The project has an approved Environmental Impact Declaration (DIA) and a collaboration agreement with the IFC to align with international sustainability standards.
Demand for suppliers and workers already has a measurable scale. At the peak of the last field season, Los Azules employed more than 500 people, about 90% of them hired in San Juan, according to the operational update McEwen Copper published in August. In that same statement, the company pushed its final investment decision (FID) back to mid-2027 and kept the start of commercial cathode production in 2030, subject to financing and sectoral permits. The capital structure combines project debt with the stock market listing the company is preparing in Toronto.
For San Juan suppliers, the countdown has a date set in the Official Gazette: December 31, 2027 is the deadline for Los Azules to prove the minimum investment in qualifying assets committed under the RIGI.