The 2027 Budget bill allocates AR$298.526 billion to the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) and earmarks AR$1.464 billion for the San Rafael Mining and Milling Complex (CMFSR), in Mendoza, known as Sierra Pintada. The amount is divided between two investment projects under Program 20, called Developments and Supplies for Nuclear Energy. The funds correspond specifically to the management of liabilities in temporary disposal and infrastructure upgrades.
By Panorama Minero
Of the total allocations specifically identified with uranium —four exploration projects totaling AR$705 million and the two corresponding to the Mendoza complex— San Rafael accounts for 67.5%. The allocation comes in the same fiscal year in which CNEA establishes among its budget policy objectives the recovery of uranium production capacity.
The allocations are included in the list of specific activities and projects under Program 20, whose executing unit is the Nuclear Energy Area Management. Project 40, Management of Liabilities in Temporary Disposal at the San Rafael Mining and Milling Complex, receives AR$1.078 billion. Project 41, Infrastructure Upgrades at the San Rafael Mining and Milling Complex (CMFSR), receives AR$386 million.
Program 20 totals AR$49.229 billion and includes fourteen investment projects totaling AR$7.320 billion. The two projects at the Mendoza complex account for 20% of that subset. Project 40 is the second-largest investment project in the program, behind the refurbishment of the experimental low-pressure circuit at the Constituyentes Atomic Center, which receives AR$2.527 billion.
The Declared Destination of the Funds
The entity’s budget policy objectives specify the scope of the work. The document commits to “optimize and improve facilities for the treatment of solid waste, effluents, quarry water and the management of other liabilities from past mining activities at the San Rafael Mining and Milling Complex in the Province of Mendoza, and continue with the environmental restoration of sites affected in the past by uranium extraction and production and other environmental liabilities.”
The Source of the Funds
The two allocations are part of the AR$93.759 billion in capital expenditures that the bill assigns to CNEA, of which AR$93.475 billion corresponds to direct real investment. Financing comes almost entirely from the Treasury: the agency projects own-source revenues of AR$4.206 billion, equivalent to 1.4% of its total budget allocation, comprising AR$3.601 billion in profits from investments in non-financial companies and AR$605 million from the sale of services. Imputed contributions from the Central Administration provide AR$294.320 billion, with AR$93.759 billion specifically allocated to financing capital expenditures.
The Production Objective and Exploration Allocations
Among its budget policy objectives for 2027, CNEA intends to “promote the exploration of strategic minerals, with the objective of recovering uranium production capacity.”
The physical target established for the fiscal year is two uranium favourability maps. Project 35 covers the Cuyo Basin, which includes territory in Mendoza, although the document does not specify what proportion of a total of AR$150 million corresponds to the province.
The Relationship with Exploration Allocations
The two San Rafael allocations receive 2.08 times the amount that the bill assigns to uranium exploration in the Neuquén-Atlantic, Cuyo and Cañadón Asfalto basins, the Deseado Massif, La Rioja, Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca combined. Of the six allocations specifically identified with uranium —the four exploration projects and the two for the Mendoza complex, totaling AR$2.169 billion— Sierra Pintada accounts for 67.5%.
The technological allocation follows a separate channel. Under Program 26, Research and Development of Major Projects, the development of isotope enrichment capabilities totals AR$3.063 billion: AR$1.446 billion for prototypes of isotope-separation centrifuge machines, AR$1.176 billion for laser technology at the Bariloche Atomic Center and AR$441 million for infrared quantum cascade laser diodes. The amount is four times that allocated to mineral exploration.
Commissioning
The 2027 Budget bill does not include any allocation for the reactivation, commissioning or productive feasibility study of the San Rafael Mining and Milling Complex. The two allocations for Mendoza correspond to liability management and infrastructure upgrades.
The document also does not link the remediation of the complex with the objective of recovering uranium production capacity, although restarting Sierra Pintada is a stated objective of the national authorities. The information available in the chapter does not make it possible to establish whether the remediation work forms part of a sequence aimed at enabling future production at the deposit.
With AR$1.464 billion allocated to liabilities and infrastructure, Sierra Pintada accounts for 67.5% of the six allocations specifically identified with uranium analyzed in the 2027 Budget.
