Los Azules — copper cathodes (McEwen Copper)

The company announces that the engineering of the process equipment packages — solvent extraction and electrowinning, sulfuric acid and crushing — goes to Metso. In the same release it states that the mining fleet tender is in final evaluation and that the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor will be selected in the fourth quarter of 2026. The 2025-2026 field campaign closed with more than 5,600 metres of drilling and a peak of more than 500 people, with nearly 90 % hired in San Juan verif. It is the first known award of the industrial core thesis.

McEwen Copper closed a USD 240 million syndicated loan (senior secured, 4 years, 12.0% per year) to fund engineering and early works. Lenders: Sprott Natural Resource Investment Partners USD 112 M, Rob McEwen USD 85 M and others USD 43 M. The final investment decision and full project financing are left for mid-2027; commercial cathode production, for 2030.

The province calls a public hearing, for Thursday 27 August, on the environmental impact study of the «Interconexión Eléctrica del Proyecto Los Azules al SADI», which the company requested in order to obtain the environmental impact declaration for the link. It is a different file from the mine's: it is processed by the Secretaría de Ambiente under the province's general environmental law, not by the Secretaría de Gestión Ambiental y Control Minero that granted the mine's declaration in 2024. The authority, the rule and the participation mechanism all change.

Resolución 330/2026 of the Ente Nacional Regulador del Gas y la Electricidad ratifies in favour of the Vicuña project the priority use over 90 % of the remaining capacity of the 500 kV Nueva San Juan-Rodeo corridor for twenty-five years, which Resolución 79/2026 had granted, and expressly rejects the objection of Andes Corporación Minera SA along with those of four other mining companies, that of the San Juan power utility and those of the municipalities of Calingasta, Jáchal and Iglesia verif. According to the trade press, the company responded by activating the alternative route it already had planned, resting on the infrastructure that PSJ Cobre Mendocino is developing with Distrocuyo prob.

The company presents its execution strategy to the provincial press and publishes the order in which the packages come out: in 2026, the engineering and construction contract for the process core, the access road, the construction camps and the operating offices in San Juan; between late 2026 and early 2027, the leach pad, the high-voltage line, the mine development and the logistics centres; afterwards, the crushing, sulfuric acid, solvent extraction and electrowinning plants and the stacking systems. It also states that it contracts the support infrastructure directly, in order to widen the participation of San Juan suppliers.

The company publishes its procurement balance: between January 2025 and April 2026 it invested USD 83.9 million, of which USD 58.9 million went to suppliers and contractors, with 73.5 % of that billing to San Juan firms and 68 % of the providers based in the province. Headcount reached 512 people in April between its own staff and contractors, 87 % from San Juan. In the same balance it declares the Pioneer Camp completed and work started on the pioneer road.

Resolución 1553/2025 of the Ministerio de Economía is published, approving accession to the RIGI. It declares USD 2,672,171,207 of total investment and USD 2,353,624,141.07 of countable assets, with a plan that jumps from USD 33.5 million in the first year to USD 382.3 million in the second, a deadline of 31 December 2027, and a supplier plan that allocates 61.1 % of the amount earmarked for suppliers to local suppliers, above the 20 % that the company committed to and that the rule requires.

The feasibility study is published: initial capex of USD 3,167.9 million, 21 years of mine life, average output of 204,800 tonnes of cathodes per year in the first five years, first cathode in 2030 and mine closure budgeted at USD 386 million. It contemplates no tailings dam. It was led by Samuel Engineering with Knight Piésold, AGP Mining Consultants, E-Mining Technology and nine other contributors.

Accession date to the regime: 25 September 2025. It is the company itself that accedes, not a branch: Andes Corporación Minera S.A. amended its corporate purpose to devote it exclusively to the project, which is the alternative route to setting up a dedicated branch.

The Ministerio de Minería of San Juan approves the project's environmental impact assessment and issues its Environmental Impact Declaration, the environmental permit for future construction and operation. The documentation had been filed in April 2023; it was compiled by the consultancy Knight Piésold with the support of 22 San Juan specialists. The evaluation committee brought together 14 public and private institutions and reviewed more than 3,000 pages, with public consultation and a site visit.