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Latin America Mining

One of the strangest chapters in copper mining is drawing to a close – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 10, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

With so much happening in copper – from all-time highs mixed with price collapses – it’s easy to lose sight of the giant hole that exists in the industry where dynamite meets bedrock. Cobre Panama has now been sitting idle for 18 months, ordered to shut down by a supreme court ruling following months of protests that rocked the Central American nation.

The massive First Quantum Minerals mine, which entered production in 2019 is an increasingly rare phenomenon in copper mining. The mine’s global porphyry peers in terms of output have histories often dating back to the 19th century.

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As Chile revs up lithium plans, Indigenous groups demand more control – by Daina Beth Solomon (Reuters – April 7, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Chile’s Indigenous communities in the lithium-rich Atacama Desert are in talks with two of the nation’s biggest miners to gain more influence over plans to increase extraction of the battery metal, according to the companies and community sources.

The negotiations with Chile’s State-run Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, and Chilean lithium producer SQM, come as the companies are close to finalizing a partnership that will mark the state’s entry into production of the metal that is crucial for electric vehicle batteries.

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OPEC-style lithium cartel now unlikely, analyst says – by Frederic Tomesco (Norther Miner – April 3, 2025)

Global mining news

The odds of Latin America’s three lithium powers banding together to form a production cartel have almost evaporated due to contrasting economic models, a leading geopolitical analyst says.

Argentina, Chile and Bolivia have previously held discussions with Brazil about the creation of a group – inspired by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries, or OPEC – tasked with boosting lithium processing capacity and turning more of their mined metal into batteries. Together, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile – dubbed the Lithium Triangle – hold an estimated 60% of global lithium resources.

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Argentina’s economic rock star Milei attracts mining – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – April 2, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Argentine President Javier Milei, who took office two years ago in a chainsaw-wielding campaign against big government, has slashed inflation by nearly two-thirds after gutting public spending and halting money printing to finance the deficit.

His Incentive Regime for Large Investments of more than $200 million (C$285 million), known by its Spanish acronym RIGI, offers 25% corporate income tax instead of 35%, plans regulatory stability for 30 years and, in a major shift, allows external arbitration over disputes.

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First Quantum backs off Panama arbitration claims, opening door to reopening copper mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 2, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian copper miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has agreed to drop or suspend its arbitration claims against Panama, opening the door to a resolution that could see its giant operations in the country eventually reopen.

Vancouver-based First Quantum in late 2023 filed international arbitration proceedings against Panama around the time then-president Laurentino Cortizo ordered the shutdown of its Cobre Panama mine. Mr. Cortizo took the drastic step after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that its mining contract was unconstitutional, and during massive public protests against the mine.

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Chile’s Mining Giants Remain Optimistic In The Face Of Industry Challenges – by Rebecca Johns (Latin America Reports/MSN.com – March 29, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/

Through the rugged terrain of the Choapa Valley, desalinated water travels along 38 miles of pipelines from the Los Vilos port to the El Mauro dam, which supplies the Antofagasta-owned Los Pelambres mine with the water it needs to operate.

Establishing this system proved costly, requiring a $2 billion investment. However, it was essential for ensuring continued mining operations in a region where droughts are frequent and groundwater supplies are primarily designated to serve local civilians.

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High Teck: The Canadian miner’s reinvention as a critical-metals player—via its massive copper mine in Chile’s Andean foothills— could prove its undoing as an independent company – by Eric Reguly (ROB/Globe and Mail – March 24, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian plan to evolve into global critical-metals player by opening one of the biggest copper mines in South America got off to an unlucky start. On Sept. 25, 1996, Frank Pickard, the Sudbury, Ont., native who was the CEO of Falconbridge, then one of Canada’s top two diversified mining companies (the other was Inco), boarded a small aircraft on the Chilean coast and flew to the Collahuasi mine in the Atacama Desert, in the far north of the country, in the Andean foothills near the Bolivian border.

Within minutes of stepping out at 4,400 metres (14,400 feet)—half the height of Everest—he was felled by a heart attack and died. He was 63. A retired mining engineer and consultant friend of mine, Jeffrey Franzen, who worked for a subsidiary of Falconbridge at the time, told me that based on the story he’d heard, Pickard’s failure to acclimatize before reaching the Andean heavens, where effective oxygen levels are far lower than those at sea level, probably triggered his death. (Legend says he was buried in a coffin made of nickel, Falconbridge’s main product, as was his wish.)

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Spotlight: Brazil’s US$4bn nickel potential (bnamericas.com – March 12, 2025)

https://www.bnamericas.com/en/

Brazil has huge potential to develop nickel projects and benefit from the energy transition, but it also must solve significant problems. National nickel reserves are estimated at 16Mt, putting Brazil in third place globally, after Indonesia (55Mt) and Australia (24Mt).

Output, however, is still modest, totaling 89,000t in 2023, for a global market share of 2.47%, which makes Brazil the ninth producer, according to US Geological Survey data. But Brazil is the only Latin American country which is a top 10 global nickel player.

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Bolivia’s lithium deals with China, Russia in limbo – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 13, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Bolivia is facing mounting public backlash over contracts signed with Chinese and Russian companies late last year to exploit its vast lithium reserves, with community groups arguing the agreements offer no real benefits to locals.

The controversy led the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies to suspend parliamentary discussions on the deals in February, pending “a thorough information-sharing process with civil society is completed.”

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Rio Tinto creates lithium unit after completing $6.7B Arcadium deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 6, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto has officially completed its $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, which will become Rio Tinto Lithium. The newly formed unit will take control of Rio’s $2.5 billion Rincon project in Argentina but will not include the mining giant’s Jadar lithium project in Serbia.

The acquisition of Arcadium, announced in October, marks Rio’s largest deal in more than a decade. It positions it among the world’s largest lithium miners, trailing only US-based Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) and Chile’s SQM.

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Panama’s US$10 billion copper mine faces tough road to restart – by Michael McDonald (Bloomberg News – March 03, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino flew over the nation’s flagship copper mine this week, getting a good look at the idled project — and raising investor hopes for a restart of the US$10 billion operation.

It was a “truly impressive” sight, Mulino told reporters in Panama City on Thursday as he vowed to explore “novel ideas” for the mine ordered shut in late-2023 after an eruption of environmental protests and political turmoil.

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How one community in Chile is blessed and cursed with lithium – by John Bartlett (NPR.org – February 23, 2025)

https://www.npr.org/

ATACAMA DESERT, Chile — At the top of a craggy path in Socaire, a hilltop village deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a black flag whips in the wind above Jeanette Cruz’s house. The desert sun has bleached it to a dark gray blur, but the defiance it represents remains strong.

Above each house in the village, shimmering in the evening sun, these black flags represent the Indigenous Lickanantay people’s resistance to the lithium mining that many say is tearing their communities apart. The lithium in the brine beneath the brilliant white Atacama salt flat, which stretches out across the valley floor, has become a global resource.

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Column: China’s grip on global nickel supply tightens with Anglo sale – by Andy Home (Reuters – February 24, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Anglo American’s sale of its Brazilian nickel business to China’s MMG Ltd is a corporate win-win. Anglo gets to deliver on its promise to shareholders to simplify its portfolio and pockets up to $500 million.

MMG, which is already a major producer of copper, cobalt and zinc, gets to diversify into another metal and expand its geographic footprint into Brazil. It is also buying into the one part of the nickel market that is showing signs of price resilience amid a glut of over-supply.

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Anglo American and Codelco strike $5B copper deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 20, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Anglo American (LON: AAL) and Chile’s state-owned Codelco have signed an agreement to jointly develop their neighbouring Los Bronces and Andina operations, a move that will see the partners produce 2.7 million tonnes of additional copper over 21 years from 2030.

The joint mine plan is projected to generate a net present value pre-tax boost of at least $5 billion, which will be shared equally between the two companies. Despite the collaboration, both Anglo American and Codelco will retain full ownership rights over their respective assets, including mining concessions, plants, and ancillary operations, and will continue to extract resources separately.

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Teck signals it’s open to deal with Glencore around combining QB2 and Collahuasi copper mines – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 21, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. chief executive Jonathan Price indicated he is open to a tie-up with former foe Glencore PLC that would combine its giant QB2 copper mine in Chile with Glencore’s neighbouring Collahuasi operation.

QB2 is the mine that underpinned Teck’s revamp to become a fully focused critical-minerals company after it sold its legacy coal business to Glencore. Glencore co-owns another giant copper mine near QB2 called Collahuasi. Billions in cost savings are potentially on the table if QB2 and Collahuasi can be brought under the same ownership and operated as one gigantic facility.

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