The national government approved the incorporation of PSJ Cobre Mendocino into the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), enabling the advancement of the copper project located in Uspallata under the framework of tax, customs, and foreign exchange benefits promoted for major productive developments. The initiative was announced with an investment of US$630 million allocated to the construction of the mining operation, its associated infrastructure, maintenance, and closure.
By Panorama Minero
With this approval, PSJ becomes the first metalliferous mining project in Mendoza incorporated into the regime and one of the country’s most advanced copper developments within Argentina’s current mining reactivation process. The project had already obtained legislative approval for its Environmental Impact Declaration under the framework established by Law 7.722 and is currently advancing with feasibility work and engineering updates.
In its presentation, PSJ detailed an investment of US$630 million for the construction stage, to which the national government added maintenance and closure amounts, reaching the figure officially announced.
The announcement was made by Argentina’s Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, who emphasized that “in the case of San Jorge, it is important to highlight the success of the province in enabling mining activity within its territory, which will allow one of the country’s first copper exports.”
He added that “there are already 16 approved projects totaling nearly US$30 billion, while another 20 are under evaluation.”
PSJ Cobre Mendocino contemplates the development of an open-pit mine over a copper-gold porphyry system located in the Uspallata district, Las Heras department. The production scheme includes conventional crushing and flotation concentration to produce copper concentrate with gold content destined for international smelters.
The plant was designed to process close to 10 million tonnes of ore per year, with an estimated average production of approximately 40,000 tonnes of fine copper contained in concentrate annually. The operation will have an initial mine life of 16 years, with the potential to extend to around 27 years subject to new exploration campaigns and resource expansion.
From a geological standpoint, the deposit presents historical reserves close to 48 million tonnes of ore with average grades of 0.61% copper, equivalent to approximately 295,000 tonnes of contained metal. Metallurgical tests performed on primary sulfides achieved recoveries close to 90% for copper, forming the technical basis for the flotation circuit design.
Mine Design, Process, and Operating Scheme
The mine design considers a final pit approximately 1,700 meters long, 950 meters wide, and close to 350 meters deep, developed in five mining phases through drilling and blasting. The extracted ore will be sent to a conventional crushing plant and then processed through a grinding and flotation concentration circuit to produce copper concentrate with gold content.
The project foresees the production of dry concentrate with approximately 25% copper and around 9% moisture, which will be transported in sealed “Height Open Top” containers to port for export. Among the chemical inputs considered for the operation are typical flotation reagents such as lime, xanthate, frothers, and flocculants. The scheme does not contemplate the use of cyanide, sulfuric acid, or mercury, in line with the restrictions established by Mendoza’s current environmental legislation.
The operation was designed around a processing capacity of close to 10 million tonnes annually, while the mineral deposit corresponds to a copper-gold system associated with copper sulfides typical of Andean porphyry environments. The average grade reported for historical resources stands at approximately 0.47% copper and 0.191 grams of gold per tonne.
Regarding mining waste, the project contemplates a system of waste dumps for sterile material, low-grade ore, and oxidized material, in addition to a thickened tailings storage facility with an approximate solids concentration of 67% and capacity exceeding 158 million tonnes. The facility will occupy an area of approximately 216 hectares.
Infrastructure, Energy, and Water
The development of PSJ also includes specific energy and water infrastructure to supply the operation. Electrical power will be provided through a connection to the provincial 132 kV system via a high-voltage transmission line divided into two sections, one approximately 85 kilometers long and another close to 35 kilometers.
At the same time, the water scheme foresees water intake from El Tigre stream through a Tyrolean-type intake and a system of reservoirs. The average water requirement for the operation was estimated at approximately 141 liters per second, including regulation reservoirs and recirculation systems for industrial supply.
The preliminary schedule estimates a construction phase lasting between 18 and 24 months, with a peak of close to 3,900 jobs during construction and around 2,400 direct and indirect jobs during the operational phase. During construction, the project anticipates a workforce peak of approximately 1,200 workers on site, while the operational stage foresees a permanent workforce of hundreds of employees between company personnel and contractors.
The approval of the RIGI positions PSJ Cobre Mendocino among the projects with the greatest potential to become one of the first new copper operations to enter production in Argentina during the current national copper expansion cycle.
