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Latin America Mining

Lithium Triangle region remains strategic amid uncertainties and trade disputes – by Anne Barbosa (S&P Global – May 20, 2025)

https://www.spglobal.com/

Despite the recent tariff agreement between China and the United States, the ongoing trade dispute continues to create global uncertainties and may affect tax revenue and employment in the Lithium Triangle of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. However, it also presents opportunities, specialists told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Manuel Viera Flores, president of the Chilean Mining Chamber, said in a recent interview that although some minerals are currently tariff-free, “We must be cautious about what may come and be prepared for it, as any tax increase is negative for the development of various economic activities.”

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Scientists Found a Massive Copper Deposit That Could Change the Future of Energy – by Darren Orf (Popular Mechanics – May 19, 2025)

https://www.popularmechanics.com/

Located along the border of Chile and Argentina, the Filo del Sol copper deposit has been under investigation for years for potentially being one of the largest copper deposits in the world. And that makes sense, considering this deposit is nestled along the Atacama Desert—long known for its immense copper reserves due to its location in the Andes and its placement within the eastern portion of the Ring of Fire.

However, a new initial mineral resource estimate completed earlier this month suggests that the companies in charge of mining this area—the U.S.-based Lundin Mining and BHP—may have stumbled upon five times more metal than they bargained for. According to a statement from Lundin Mining, the new assessment estimates the presence of up to 13 million tonnes of copper, 907,000 kilograms (32 million ounces) of gold, and 18.6 million kilograms (659 million ounces) of silver.

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China Tightens Control of Critical Minerals in Peru and Brazil – by Maria Zuppello (Dialogo-Americas.com – May 13, 2025)

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Driven by its ambition to achieve greater control over key raw materials used in high-tech industries for its own gain and exert geopolitical influence, China has been accelerating its expansion in the critical minerals sector worldwide.

The strategy for monopoly over minerals essential for warfare technologies and military modernization has led Beijing to increase its investment and influence in Latin America, a move experts say poses global and national security concerns, as China could use critical minerals as bargaining chip in conflicts or disrupt supply chains to hinder technological advancements.

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Rio Tinto bets big on Lithium Triangle’s brine riches – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 13, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) is doubling down on lithium, with chief executive Jakob Stausholm declaring that South America’s Lithium Triangle is the ideal region to secure the metal critical to the energy transition.

Speaking at the Bank of America Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference on Tuesday, Stausholm said that brine resources in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia offer the best chance for the world to access low-cost, high-quality lithium.

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13 Workers Found Killed at Gold Mine in Peru – by Mitra Taj (New York Times – May 5, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The men were killed in a region that has seen growing conflict over access to ore in recent years. The mine has also been a hotbed of illegal gold mining.

The bodies of 13 gold miners were found in an underground shaft at a site operated by Peru’s largest gold-mining company, President Dina Boluarte said on Monday, in a region that has seen growing conflict over access to ore in recent years.

As the price of gold has climbed to record highs, small-scale mining has expanded in Peru, while the mining concessions of the Peruvian company, La Poderosa, in Pataz Province in the northern part of the country, have become a hotbed of illegal gold mining and the site of deadly clashes.

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Brazil low-cost lithium production: A potential global reference, but internal challenges may delay progress – by Leticia Simionato (Fastmarkets.com – May 2, 2025)

https://www.fastmarkets.com/

“Brazil can be seen as a low-cost reference compared with other global spodumene producers. We compete very well with several geographies: better costs due to geological issues, cheaper labor and electricity… There’s a list of factors that makes us competitive, ” Vinicius Alvarenga, chief executive officer of Companhia Brasileira de Lítio (CBL), told Fastmarkets in an interview.

CBL currently produces 45,000 tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate, of which 30,000 tonnes is exported – mainly to China – while 15,000 tonnes are used in the company’s own refinery, which produces around 2,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Half of the produced LCE is exported and half is used domestically. Additionally, CBL is currently working on a project to increase mining production to 100,000 tpy of spodumene and expand its chemicals production to 6,000 tpy of LCE.

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Vale’s Strategic Alternatives for Nickel Assets in 2025 – by John Zadeh (Discovery Alert – April 30, 2025)

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Market Challenges and Future Outlook

Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A. faces critical decisions regarding its nickel operations amid a complex global market landscape dominated by oversupply pressures and shifting demand dynamics. The company’s strategic review of its nickel portfolio, initiated in early 2025, reflects both short-term operational challenges and long-term optimism about nickel’s role in the energy transition.

This report synthesizes Vale’s current challenges, strategic options, and the broader market forces shaping its decisions, with a focus on Indonesia’s disruptive production growth and the evolving electric vehicle (EV) sector.

What Challenges Is Vale Facing in the Nickel Market?

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Teck stumbles again at QB2 copper mine, while zinc business outperforms – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. stumbled once again in its latest quarter, as it encountered more ramp-up problems at its giant QB2 copper mine, while its zinc business fired on all cylinders.

Teck put the high-altitude QB2 mine in the mountains of northern Chile into production in 2023, but the US$8.7-billion project went way over budget. The ramp-up has been difficult, with grade shortfalls and production misses among the early challenges.

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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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