McEwen Copper, a Canadian copper development company, used its appearance at the Atlantic Council's Latin America forum in Washington to confirm a $2.67 billion investment commitment for Los Azules, its flagship copper project in the Andean cordillera of San Juan province — and to present Feasibility Study economics that place the project among the most attractive unbuilt copper assets in the Americas at current prices.
The confirmation was delivered by Michael Meding, McEwen Copper's project general manager, at a panel moderated by Kezia McKeague and attended by Rubén Roberto Dusso, Lieutenant Governor of Catamarca province; José Luis Manzano, chairman of Integra Capital, an Argentine private energy and mining investment group; and Martín Pérez de Solay, CEO of Glencore Argentina, the local arm of the Swiss mining and commodities major.
Argentina's First Copper Project Under RIGI
Los Azules was the first copper project in Argentina to receive full approval under Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) — confirmed in September 2025 under Resolution 1553/2025, following the receipt of environmental construction and operation permits in late 2024. The project is designed to produce LME-grade copper cathodes — the standard refined copper product accepted for delivery on the London Metal Exchange — through a heap leach and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) process powered by renewable energy.
The Feasibility Study confirms the project's economics. Initial capital expenditure (capex) stands at $3.17 billion. At the base case copper price of $4.35/lb, the project delivers a net present value (NPV) of $2.9 billion at an 8% discount rate and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 19.8%. At the feasibility study's sensitivity case of $5.45/lb — below current spot prices, which reached approximately $5.80–6.00/lb in mid-April 2026 — the NPV rises to approximately $5.4 billion and the after-tax IRR to around 27.8%.
McEwen Copper estimates average annual production of 148,000 tonnes over 22 years, reaching approximately 204,000 tonnes per year in the first five years of the high-grade phase. At the sensitivity price, that output translates to approximately $1.78 billion in average annual export revenue — rising to roughly $2.46 billion per year in the initial high-grade phase. The project is projected to support more than 3,500 direct and indirect jobs.
IFC Leads Debt Financing; Equipment Proposals Exceed $1.1 Billion
In January 2026, McEwen Copper signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, to lead a significant portion of the project's debt financing, with syndication estimates exceeding $1 billion. The IFC's involvement is designed to facilitate additional financing from European export credit agencies (ECAs) and equipment manufacturers including Komatsu, the Japanese mining equipment company, and Sandvik, the Swedish industrial tooling and mining equipment group. Indicative proposals for equipment and infrastructure already exceed $1.1 billion.