The draft 2027 Budget submitted by Mendoza’s Executive Branch to the Provincial Legislature allocates ARS 3.608 billion (US$2.34 million) to the provincial government’s consolidated mining expenditure. The figure includes the Directorate of Mining, the regulatory authority, and Impulsa Mendoza Sostenible, the majority state-owned company responsible for promoting mining and providing financing instruments for exploration.
By Panorama Minero
This expenditure is equivalent to 5.6 times the budget of the Directorate of Hydrocarbons and represents 0.047% of total provincial expenditure, almost eight times its share in 2023. In that year, the Directorate of Mining had a smaller budget than the Directorate of Hydrocarbons.
The Directorate of Mining’s budget will reach US$1.08 million in 2027, equivalent to ARS 1.663 billion. Five years earlier, it managed ARS 54 million, approximately US$187,000, before declining to US$133,000 in 2024. The recovery began in 2025, with US$694,000, and continued in 2026, reaching US$862,000.
The entire increase can be attributed to a single fiscal year. In 2025, under the first budget of Alfredo Cornejo’s second administration, with mining already incorporated into the Ministry of Energy and Environment, the Directorate’s allocation increased by 706% in pesos, while total provincial expenditure rose by 119%.
It was also the only year in which capital expenditure was recorded, amounting to ARS 141 million. Since then, the agency’s budget has grown by between 24% and 25% annually in US dollar terms, in line with the rest of the provincial government, maintaining a share of approximately 0.022% of total expenditure.
The 2027 allocation corresponds to a regulatory office: ARS 1.123 billion for services, ARS 462 million for personnel and ARS 78 million for consumable goods, with no capital investment.
In 2023, the Directorate of Hydrocarbons had a budget of ARS 58 million (US$202,000), slightly above that of Mining. In 2024, the difference widened to ARS 130 million compared with ARS 106 million.
From 2025 onwards, the relationship reversed. For 2027, Mining receives 2.6 times more funding than Hydrocarbons, which has been allocated ARS 647 million (US$419,000).
Impulsa: The Half Financed Through Its Own Capital
The state-owned company first appeared in the budget tables in 2025, when the Legislature included it as a separate entry among public entities.
For 2027, the draft budget allocates ARS 2.051 billion in revenue and ARS 1.946 billion in expenditure, almost double the amounts projected for the previous two years: ARS 1.103 billion in revenue in both years, with expenditure of ARS 1.077 billion in 2025 and ARS 1.060 billion in 2026.
The salary allocation increases from ARS 780 million to ARS 1.575 billion.
These funds do not come from the provincial Treasury. Impulsa operates using returns generated by its own capital, which accounted for ARS 9.283 billion of the ARS 11.525 billion in direct economic value generated by the company in 2025, according to its first Sustainability Report.
Its 2025 expenditure was distributed among training (27%), project development (25%), international promotion (19%) and production access roads in Malargüe (16%).
In the latter category, the company carried out work on approximately 230 km of tracks leading to exploration areas.
With Sebastián Piña as General Manager, the company focused its agenda on financing instruments for early-stage exploration.
These include Andean Bridge, its relationship with the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and BYMA, and a mining closed-end investment fund awaiting authorisation from the National Securities Commission.
Earmarked Funds and the Tax Burden
The province’s two mining funds undergo changes in the 2027 budget.
The fund established under Law 4,968, which previously received between ARS 1.3 million and ARS 2.2 million annually, has no allocation in the budget tables.
The Special Mining Fund established under Law 8,434, which received nominal amounts of up to ARS 5 million over four fiscal years, is allocated ARS 420.6 million, almost entirely earmarked for general services.
On the revenue side, in 2026 the province reduced the Gross Receipts Tax rate for services related to mining and quarrying operations by 0.5 percentage points.
The explanatory statement accompanying the 2027 Budget reports that the effective tax burden of this tax on mining has fallen by 22% since 2016.
The structure established by the 2027 Budget separates two functions with different funding sources.
Mining promotion is financed through Impulsa’s capital. Regulatory oversight depends on a Directorate with an operating budget linked to the overall growth of provincial government expenditure.
The Directorate will be responsible for overseeing the construction of PSJ Cobre Mendocino and a portfolio of 67 projects with environmental approval in Malargüe Distrito Minero Occidental.
