Glencore Projects 1 Million-Ton Copper Output in Argentina

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Multinational commodity trading and mining company Glencore plc's (Baar, Switzerland) Argentina president, Martin Perez de Solay, said in a panel organized by the Council of the Americas in Argentina that the company could have a copper output of 1 million tons in Argentina in the next 10 to 15 years.

Perez de Solay was very optimistic about the development of the nation's copper resources. He estimated that the country could produce 2 million tons of copper in the next 10 years, given current projects and developments, and attract between US$35 billion and US$45 billion in investments.

"Argentina can add 2 million tons of copper in the next 10 years and is the only country in the world that can do so," he said during the conference.

In August, Glencore submitted applications for its wholly owned El Pachon and Agua Rica projects to be considered for the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), a program launched by Argentine President Javier Milei to attract companies and investments in exchange for fiscal and legal benefits.

El Pachon is a large-scale copper and molybdenum deposit in San Juan with measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources of 6 billion tons of ore with average grades of 0.43% copper. Glencore expects to invest between US$8.5 billion and US$10.5 billion to develop this asset.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Plant and Project databases can learn more about El Pachon in a detailed plant profile and project report.

Meanwhile, Glencore owns the Agua Rica project in Catamarca, a deposit of copper, gold, silver and molybdenum with estimated measured and indicated mineral resources of 1.2 billion tons of ore with average grades of 0.47% copper, 0.20 g/t gold, 3.40 g/t silver and 0.03% molybdenum. The asset's development is expected to cost between US$3.5 billion and US$4.5 billion.

Subscribers can click here for a list of detailed reports for projects at Agua Rica, and learn more from a plant profile.

So far, Glencore expects to produce about 500,000 tons of copper from both projects, but Perez de Solay said that given El Pachon's prospects, it can produce double of that.

Other mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Galan Lithium and McEwen have submitted applications for the RIGI.

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