Vicuña (Josemaría + Filo del Sol) — copper, gold and silver
The largest mining project in Argentine history by announced investment, and, according to the operator, the first copper Long-Term Strategic Export Project (PEELP) —the RIGI tier for staged investments of USD 1,000 million, with benefits brought forward—: it integrates Josemaría and Filo del Sol in the San Juan cordillera, Iglesia Department, on the Chilean border. It is in PRE-CONSTRUCTION: the investment decision has not been taken and the company places it «as early as the end of 2026»; according to its technical report of February 2026, it plans to start formal construction in 2027, with 40 months of works. RIGI accession unlocks the fiscal condition preceding that decision.
How to supply it
what we have for a supplier, and how to request it
What we have on this project for a supplier
Who decides the purchase, who you invoice and where a new supplier registers.
Which lines each phase buys and when the window opens for each one.
Which they are, why it will need them and who could provide them.
Who they are, what each one does and how to sell to them.
All of this is surveyed and verified against its source. Crossed with what you sell —which of them your products suit, how to reach it and when— it is in your company report. Request the report
We cross what you manufacture or do against the 9 phases of this project and tell you which ones you fit into and when each one buys. Two pages, with the evidence behind them.
Where my company can get inThe project
what it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
What it is and why it exists
Two copper, gold and silver deposits — Josemaría and Filo del Sol — some ten kilometers apart, in the Andes of the Iglesia department, on the border with Chile and above 4,500 meters. They are operated by Vicuña Corp., the joint venture of BHP and Lundin Mining. According to the operator, it is the first copper project to enter the RIGI as a Long-Term Strategic Export Project.
A deposit at that altitude needs two things that have rarely come together in Argentina: stable tax and foreign exchange rules for decades, and a power grid that reaches the mountains. The RIGI provides the first. The second is paid for by the project itself — 167 kilometers of new 500 kV line between the Rodeo and Chaparro substations — and stays installed in the northern San Juan grid, which today is the bottleneck for the province's entire mining portfolio. That is the point missed if you read only the announcement: what gets built does not leave when the construction crews do.
Where it runs and how much it can move
Iglesia department, San Juan, along the summit line of the border with Chile (Atacama Region). Josemaría lies on the Argentine side; Filo del Sol has areas on both sides of the border and therefore needs its own Chilean permits. The two deposits are some 10 or 11 km apart prob. That proximity is what allows them to be treated as a single district with shared infrastructure thesis. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Josemaría ~4,535 m above sea level; Filo del Sol ~4,885 m. unconf Feb 16, 2026
The entry point is the town of Angualasto (Iglesia department), some 206 km northwest of the city of San Juan along RN 150. From there to the site there are 220 km of mountain road (the Corredor Norte), currently under construction. Until it is finished, construction traffic keeps entering through Guandacol, in La Rioja. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
NOT through an Argentine port. The concentrate leaves by truck in rotainers along the northern road and public routes in Argentina and Chile to a Chilean port; only in Stage 3 is a concentrate slurry pipeline to the roasting plant added. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
175.000 t/day (sulphide concentrator, ~64 Mt/year) — Josemaría open-pit mine verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Copper concentrate (with gold and silver) in the sulphide stages; in the oxide stage, copper cathodes via SX/EW and gold and silver doré via Merrill-Crowe. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
380 MW for Stages 1 and 2; 738 MW with all three stages. verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
A new 500 kV line, 167 km, from the Rodeo transformer station northwards to the new Chaparro transformer station; there it steps to a 220 kV double circuit up to the Josemaría station. verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
In July 2026 the provincial energy regulator approved construction of the high-voltage line and the electrical infrastructure, and secured transmission capacity for the operation's demand. verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
ENReGE Resolución 330/2026 authorized 260 MW of access for Josemaría phase 1, to be connected at the future Chaparro transformer station on 220 kV busbars, and issued the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to TRANSENER for five works: bay 05 at 500 kV in the Nueva San Juan substation; the 500 kV yard at the Rodeo substation with a 600 MVA 500/132/33 kV bank; the disconnection of the Nueva San Juan-Rodeo line from the 132 kV bays; a new 500 kV extra-high-voltage line between the Rodeo and Chaparro substations of some 167 km; and the new 450 MVA Chaparro GIS 500/220 kV substation with two 220 kV line exits towards the Josemaría substation. On the existing Nueva San Juan-Rodeo line the resolution ratified — it did not grant — the priority of use over 90% of the remaining capacity against third parties already conceded by ENRE Res. 79/2026, equivalent to 71% of total 500 kV capacity according to CAMMESA's calculations, for 25 years from the commercial commissioning of each work. Art. 7 denied that priority over the 500 kV yard of the Rodeo substation. verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗
Stages 1-2: groundwater from three well fields (the Pircas de los Bueyes creek and Macho Muerto river micro-basins and the La Majadita area) prob. Stage 3: desalinated seawater brought from Chile, with an intake, a desalination plant on the Atacama coast and a 2,000 l/s aqueduct prob. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
The update to the environmental report raised estimated consumption from 515 to 1,200 l/s in peak production periods (+133% over the report approved in 2021 and updated in April 2024), because the project grew: 1,425 million exploitable tonnes against 1,000, a mine life from 19 to 25 years and 175,000 tonnes a day of processing against 150,000. The report by the consultancy Ausenco rates the impact as «moderate» during construction and «severe during operation in the well-field sector, due to the greater requirement for external make-up water», adding that it expects «a gradual reduction of this negative effect» once Pacific water comes in. Supply becomes multi-source — a third well field at La Majadita, on top of those at Pircas de los Bueyes creek and the Macho Muerto river — and the company states it will reuse 73% of process water. For scale: the original 515 l/s already equalled 1.4% of the Tulum Valley's irrigation water and almost five times Veladero's consumption. prob Aug 26, 2025 ↗
Corredor Norte: some 220 km from Angualasto, under construction prob. Maintenance of the existing Angualasto-La Majadita road (170 km) was awarded in June 2025 to the San Juan firm Zlato, for some 13 months prob. Of the new road, sections A1 and A2 (63.6 km between Angualasto and Junta La Palca) were awarded in September 2026 to a joint venture of Contreras, BBC and the San Juan firm Construmin prob; sections B, C and D add up to some 107.4 km between Junta La Palca and La Majadita prob. prob Sep 11, 2026 ↗
New camp of ~45,000 m² (~USD 50-52 M), awarded in June 2026 prob. It adds some 2,000 beds, would be around 25% of the final residential infrastructure and is the first of four tenders prob. prob Jun 5, 2026 ↗
Route 40 North between Albardón and Jáchal, which the governor described as «destruida» — destroyed — is among the works paid for with the contribution from the provincial agreement with Vicuña prob. The Agua Negra tunnel and the conversion of the Albardón-Jáchal rail branch still do not exist unconf. prob Aug 6, 2026 ↗
What reserves back it
There are NO declared proven or probable reserves. prob Oct 31, 2025 ↗
4.181 Mt @ 0.34% Cu / 0.27 g/t Au / 5.4 g/t Ag → 14.3 Mt of contained copper, 36.1 Moz of gold, 729 Moz of silver verif Oct 31, 2025 ↗
10.641 Mt @ 0.30% Cu / 0.18 g/t Au / 3.1 g/t Ag → 32.3 Mt of contained copper, 61.3 Moz of gold, 1,051 Moz of silver verif Oct 31, 2025 ↗
72% of the district's tonnage and 69% of the contained copper sit in the inferred category, the weakest one. estim Oct 31, 2025
Who owns it
Vicuña Corp, a 50/50 company between Lundin Mining and BHP, incorporated on 15 January 2025 when the joint acquisition of Filo Corp and the sale to BHP of 50% of Josemaría closed prob. CEO: Ron Hochstein (appointed on 15 September 2025, in office since 7 November 2025) prob. Director in Argentina: José Morea prob. prob Jan 15, 2025 ↗
Lundin Mining Corporation (Canada; TSX: LUN, Nasdaq Stockholm: LUMI), which is the one that publishes the project's quarterly reports and technical reports, and BHP Group Limited (Australia; ASX, NYSE and LSE: BHP). prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Josemaría came from Josemaria Resources, acquired by Lundin Mining in 2022; Filo del Sol came from Filo Corp / Filo Mining, acquired jointly by BHP and Lundin in the deal announced on 29 Jul 2024 and closed on 15 Jan 2025. prob Jan 15, 2025 ↗
What other projects it links to
What this project enables or needs outside the province, and through what mechanism.
Chile (Atacama Region)the project is binational by design: Filo del Sol crosses the border, all the concentrate from stages 1-2 leaves through a Chilean port, and Stage 3 puts the desalination plant, the seawater intake and the pipeline in Chile verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
Santa Fethe largest camp award went to a consortium including the Santa Fe builder RAFA S.A., with the modules manufactured in China prob Jun 5, 2026 ↗+
CABAthe project vehicle is domiciled at Ingeniero Enrique Butty 239, CABA: the RIGI's legal, financial, customs and FX structuring is invoiced in Buenos Aires, not in San Juan verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗+
La Riojathe logistics route through northern San Juan brushes La Rioja jurisdiction, and a province with no project of its own can block access to this one prob Apr 16, 2026 ↗+
The works, milestone by milestone
The Secretaría de Minería, through Resolución 81/2026, authorizes Vicuña Argentina to replace the list of goods it can import under the exemption of article 190 of Ley 27.742, approved by Resolución 1154/2026. On Sep 14 the company had asked to add 66 tariff lines: 59 qualify as capital goods and 7 as IT and telecommunications goods. The new list is in an annex that the Official Gazette does not reproduce.
Vicuña Argentina S.A. and the construction workers' union UOCRA sign the agreement that sets the labor conditions for building Filo del Sol–Josemaría: the construction-industry framework (Law 22,250 and CCT 76/75), an end-of-works bonus, working hours, housing and transport. For a supplier the clause that matters is the entry one: every company Vicuña hires for the works must be registered with IERIC (the construction-industry registry) and adhere to the agreement.
San Juan publishes Ley provincial 2836-M, enacted on Aug 19, 2026, which approves the Acta Compromiso of Aug 5, 2026 and its Appendices A, B, C and D with Vicuña Argentina S.A., ratified by Decreto 1066-MM-2026 of Aug 7, 2026. The agreement sets the regime of the Aporte DIA, the Aporte DIA Fijo and the early execution of strategic infrastructure works.
San Juan's Chamber of Deputies approves the Acta Compromiso and its Appendices A, B, C and D entered into with Vicuña Argentina S.A., by 27 votes to 9, in a special session convened to deal with only two files: this one (file 1904-2026, sent by the Executive with Message No. 34) and a works agreement on national routes with Vialidad Nacional. The stated purpose is the legal regime of the Aporte DIA, the Aporte DIA Fijo and the early execution of strategic infrastructure works.
Governor Orrego announces an agreement with Vicuña: a one-off contribution of 250 million dollars, non-refundable and non-creditable, an infrastructure trust of 1.5% of gross revenue for the life of the mine and a royalty capped at 3% of gross revenue. It remains subject to ratification by the provincial legislature.
The provincial energy regulator approves construction of the high-voltage line and the project's electrical infrastructure, and transmission capacity is secured for its demand.
Publication of the resolution in the Boletín Oficial, notice 345167.
Resolución 1154/2026 of the Ministerio de Economía is issued (RESOL-2026-1154-APN-MEC).
Second quarter of 2026: early works on Stage 1 begin with a fleet of 24 trucks and 1.1 Mt of earth moved, according to Lundin's release.
RIGI accession date, set by art. 2 of Resolución 1154/2026.
The NI 43-101 technical report on the Vicuña Project is filed.
Lundin publishes the results of the Integrated Technical Study: three stages, capex of 7,100 + 3,900 + 7,100 million dollars, average output of 395,000 t/yr of copper, construction from 2027 and first production in 2030.
Vicuña Argentina S.A. files its RIGI accession application in the PEELP category.
Vicuña awards San Juan firm Zlato the maintenance of the Angualasto-La Majadita road: 170 km, ~13 months, ~100 direct and indirect jobs.
The deal closes and Vicuña Corp is born.
BHP and Lundin Mining announce the joint acquisition of Filo Corp and the 50/50 joint venture.
What it leaves in San Juan
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
How many jobs it creates
5,500 direct jobs — the average across the ~40 months of construction, not the peak (plus ~19,000 indirect) verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
The place where it is built
Iglesia, San Juan, before the RIGI: the official snapshot of November 2023, counting the people who live there.
2,597 jobs in November 2023, 54% of them in public administration verif Nov 2023 ↗
560 jobs: 324 in mining and 236 in construction verif Nov 2023 ↗
from 231 to 324 jobs verif Nov 2023 ↗
4 in 2022 verif 2022 ↗
2.7 times estim Nov 2023
2.1 times all registered jobs in the department and 9.8 times its miners and construction workers estim Nov 2023
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end: 480 km across line and road, with its size and its source.
500 kV extra-high-voltage line, Chaparro substation and expansions at Rodeo and Nueva San Juan
Powerof new 500 kV line between the Rodeo and Chaparro substations; a 450 MVA Chaparro GIS 500/220 kV substation with two 220 kV line bays; a 500 kV yard at Rodeo substation with a 600 MVA 500/132/33 kV bank; bay 05 of 500 kV at Nueva San Juan substation
The power transmission system of northern San Juan, which is today the bottleneck for the province's entire mining pipeline. The works are paid for by the private party and stay in the territory, but their capacity is not left free: the regulator confirmed in the project's favor a priority of use of 90% of the remaining capacity of the existing Nueva San Juan-Rodeo line for 25 years, counted from the commercial commissioning of each set of works. The 500 kV yard at Rodeo substation was left out of that priority, expressly excluded by the same act.
The five sets of works are listed in the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued to TRANSENER S.A. at the request of Vicuña Argentina S.A. through Resolución ENReGE 330/2026, which also authorized access of 260 MW for Josemaría phase 1.
220 kV private-use power line, Chaparro substation–Josemaría substation
Powerdouble circuit, 220 kV — the final stretch between the future Chaparro substation (the 500 kV backbone) and the future Josemaría substation, both in San Juan.
The terminal stretch connecting the 500 kV backbone (the works above, with regulated shared use) to the project itself. Unlike those works, this line is for PRIVATE USE (art. 31 of Ley 24.065): it is built, operated and maintained by Vicuña Argentina S.A. at its sole cost and for its own needs, with no third-party access obligation — it is not infrastructure the territory shares, it is the project's own cabling up to the mine.
Resolución 197/2026 of the Secretaría de Energía authorized Vicuña Argentina S.A. to build, at its sole cost and for its own needs, a double-circuit 220 kV line of approximately 93 km between the future Chaparro and Josemaría substations, for a term of 25 years.
Corredor Norte: mountain road from Angualasto to the site and full maintenance of the existing road
Roadsof mountain road from Angualasto, in sections A to F (section A of 63.6 km to Junta La Palca; sections B, C and D of ~107.4 km; sections E and F of ~50 km) and a 100 m bridge over the Río Blanco; plus full maintenance of the 170 km of the existing Angualasto-La Majadita road
The company funds it and it is the planned permanent access to the deep north of the Iglesia department; until it is finished, the works go in by the current route through Guandacol, in La Rioja. What is NOT evidenced by any source is that it sits on a public route and with public use: until there is an instrument saying so, it is 220 km of mine access road paid for by the private party. And there is a second fact that changes the reading and is in the law: Ley 716-M art. 19 allows road works to be offset against royalties if the Cámara de Diputados declares them of public utility by two thirds. That act, if it comes, would be precisely what makes it a public work — and also what deducts it from the royalty.
Stage 1 early works are under way according to Lundin's second-quarter 2026 report: a 24-truck fleet mobilized in the quarter and 1.1 million tonnes moved. The detail of sections, kilometers and the bridge comes from the research material based on provincial press and on the technical study.
National Route 40 North, Albardón-Jáchal stretch via Villicum
RoadsIt is the only work in the agreement with an officially confirmed purpose, and the only one whose value clearly goes beyond mining: it is the backbone of access to the provincial north, with effects on production, agribusiness, energy and tourism. The governor described it as destroyed, so what stays behind is not a marginal improvement but a recovered route.
The Government of San Juan confirmed on 6 August 2026 that Ruta 40 Norte, between Albardón and Jáchal, is among the works funded by the Vicuña agreement, and that the funds are available during 2026.
What it already pays in taxes and royalties
Item by item, with the rule that sets it. A rate is not the same as what is collected, nor what is received the same as what is projected.
3%Provincial mining royalty verif Aug 9, 2026 ↗+
70/20/10%How that royalty is split between the province, the municipality and the Ministerio de Minería verif Aug 9, 2026 ↗+
The small print: infrastructure works can be offset against the royalty verif Aug 9, 2026 ↗+
3%Turnover tax on suppliers of mining support services verif Jan 28, 2026 ↗+
0.75%Turnover tax on mining extraction itself prob Jan 28, 2026 ↗+
USD 250One-off contribution to the province committed in the agreement of 6 Aug 2026 prob Aug 6, 2026 ↗+
1.5%Provincial infrastructure trust, committed in the same agreement prob Aug 6, 2026 ↗+
Who promised what
Who promised what, with a date and with how to check it. We record them whatever the political colour.
not startedLundin Mining · «The technical team is focused on advancing all aspects of the project to target a sanctioning decision as early as the end of 2026» verif Aug 5, 2026 ↗+
partly keptMarcelo Orrego · A contribution of USD 250 million that is «único, no reembolsable, ni compensable» for strategic road, water and sanitation infrastructure works, with funds available during 2026; plus an infrastructure trust of 1.5% of gross revenue and a royalty of 3% of gross revenue from the start of production, both for the life of the mine prob Aug 6, 2026 ↗+
not startedSan Juan provincial legislature · That 80% of the average annual payroll be local workers and that 60% of the project's total annual purchasing and contracting go to local suppliers, measured also on what the contractors contract and not only the mining company verif Jul 16, 2026 ↗+
not startedJuan Pablo Perea · That the regulation of the Local Mining Development law and RE.PRO.MIN be operational before the end of 2026 prob Jul 6, 2026 ↗+
keptVicuña Corp · «El proceso fue abierto exclusivamente a empresas sanjuaninas, reafirmando nuestro compromiso con el desarrollo de la cadena de valor local» prob Jun 3, 2025 ↗+
not startedLundin Mining · Construction employment: an average of ~5,500 direct workers —company and contractor employees— and ~19,000 indirect ones, over the ~40 months of works it plans between 2027 and 2030 verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
not startedLundin Mining · A fiscal contribution of approximately USD 965 million a year in taxes and royalties, and ~USD 69,000 million over the life of the mine, at base-case prices verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
not startedLundin Mining · First production in 2030, with formal construction starting in 2027 and a development period of 40 months including 6 of commissioning prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
not startedJosé Morea · That the awarded contract for the new camp is «solamente por el 25% de la primera de cuatro licitaciones» — only for 25% of the first of four tenders — of the camp, with 2,000 beds out of a planned total of 8,000 prob Jun 16, 2026 ↗+
What changes in San Juan if the project works
Forty months of construction, 5,500 direct jobs on average and some 19,000 indirect ones. That is the headline, and it is the figure that matters least: construction ends and those people leave. What does not leave is the infrastructure, and that is where the real size of this sits.
What stays is a 450 MVA transformer station and 167 kilometers of 500 kV line across a provincial north that today cannot plug anything else in: the power bottleneck stops being the ceiling on what San Juan can produce. What stays is 220 kilometers of mountain road from Angualasto and a 100-meter bridge over the Blanco river, which will be the direct access from San Juan to the deep north of Iglesia: today the way in is through Guandacol, in La Rioja, and that route stays in use for the works until the new road is finished. And what stays is Route 40 between Albardón and Jáchal — which the governor described as destroyed — rebuilt across five departments: Albardón, Ullum, Jáchal, Iglesia and Calingasta. That road is not a mining road. It is how the provincial north's produce and agro-industry get out, how tourism comes in and how power is sustained. It is the only work in the agreement whose value clearly exceeds the mine, and it redraws the map for people who will never set foot on the deposit.
On the other side of the same fact there is a short list with names: four lines of supply this project will buy and that have no consolidated San Juan supplier today — high-altitude civil works, concentrate logistics, power and camps, and glaciological surveying. They are not a promise: they are purchase orders with a date. Whoever is approved as a vendor when the first one is issued gets to invoice.
Outlook to 2030, built on the verified data of this page and our analytical framework. We also publish what would invalidate it.
What could stall it
risks and how to track them
What could stall it
Each risk, with who or what could trigger it.
financieroThe investment decision has not been taken and everything else hangs on itThe boards of Lundin Mining and BHP, which have not yet closed the financing: the company itself lists «Advancement of financing structure to fund construction» and «Completion of Stage 1 capital cost estimate and construction schedule» among its pending milestones. verif Aug 5, 2026 ↗+
Without sanction the concentrator does not go to tender, the 40-month procurement window does not open and the whole schedule to 2030 shifts.
judicialA court challenge over the pit advancing onto cataloged glacier GE110Greenpeace, the Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales and the Asociación de Abogados Ambientalistas, which brought a class action against Ley 27.804. verif Jun 23, 2026 ↗+
The provincial environmental permit is granted and the reform of the glaciers law is in force; what is open is the court challenge against that reform, with two injunctions sought and neither decided.
ambientalWater and social licenseThe «Jáchal No Se Toca» assembly, active since the Veladero spills of 2015-2017 according to the press chronology, and the water sensitivity of a province whose main aquifer, in the Tulum Valley, already has a diagnosis of pumping above natural recharge. That diagnosis comes from CIGIAA —the inter-institutional body that includes INA-CRAS alongside the UNSJ, INTA, CONAE and the Government of San Juan— and attributes the pumping to agricultural irrigation, not to mining. prob Aug 26, 2025 ↗+
The update of the environmental report raised estimated consumption from 515 to 1,200 l/s at maximum output and its own consultant rates the impact as «severe» during operation in the well-field area; replacement with desalinated Pacific water only comes on stream around year 7 and depends on binational permits that do not exist today.
tecnicoThere are no proven or probable reserves declared: the study publishes resources only, and 72% of the district's tonnage sits in the inferred category, the weakest oneThe warning the issuer itself includes in its technical statement: «Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability». prob Oct 31, 2025 ↗+
The 70-year plan rests on material whose economic viability has not yet been demonstrated.
financieroCapex uncertainty outside Stage 1The estimate class declared by the project's own engineering. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
Stage 1 has a Class 3 estimate, with a contingency of -15% to +20%, but Stages 2 and 3 are Class 5, at -35% to +50%: on some USD 11,000 million, the error range exceeds USD 5,000 million.
precioTight economics for the scale: an after-tax internal rate of return of 14.8% and payback of 8.4 years from 2030, on base-case prices of USD 4.60 per pound of copper, USD 3,300 per ounce of gold and USD 40 per ounce of silverThe international price of copper and of the base-case precious metals. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
A low copper cycle within the construction window puts direct pressure on the sequence of stages.
regulatorioThe allocation of power transmission capacity was decided in the project's favor administratively, but against the formal opposition of eleven parties that the resolution rejects one by one: San Juan's own provincial electricity authority, La Rioja's energy secretariat, the municipalities of Calingasta, Jáchal and Iglesia, a private individual and five mining companiesThe objectors the resolution names: San Juan's Ente Provincial de la Electricidad, La Rioja's Secretaría de Energía, the municipalities of Calingasta, Jáchal and Iglesia, Golden Mining, Casposo Argentina, Barrick Exploraciones Argentinas, Minera Argentina del Sol and Andes Corporación Minera. verif Jul 29, 2026 ↗+
A court challenge from any of them is the vector that remains live.
regulatorioChilean permits pending: the Environmental Qualification Resolution under the Chilean assessment system, the maritime concessions and the offloading infrastructure approvals condition above all the desalination plant, the aqueduct and the Stage 3 facilities on the Chilean coastChile's Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental, before which the project must obtain the Environmental Qualification Resolution, according to the company's statement of February 2026. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
logisticoNeighboring-jurisdiction risk: the historic logistics access to the deposit runs through La Rioja, and that province has already used the courts to cut itThe provincial State of La Rioja, which obtained the self-standing emergency measure in file 45863 «Estado Provincial contra Vicuña S.A.» before the Chilecito judge for lack of an environmental impact study in that province; San Juan disputes that a La Rioja judge should rule on an activity carried out entirely in San Juan territory. There is also a second front, over the boundary itself: in June 2026 the La Rioja Legislature passed Ley 10.876, which declares null the national law Ley 18.004 of 1968 that sets its boundary with San Juan, and in early July governor Ricardo Quintela promulgated it; the law instructs La Rioja's State Attorney's Office to sue before the Supreme Court over 2,651 km² of the Iglesia department prob. Whether that strip reaches areas of Vicuña could not be confirmed unconf, and as of 23 September 2026 the lawsuit does not appear to have been filed prob. prob Apr 16, 2026 ↗+
What remains open is not the April injunction —it lasted 30 days and was bypassed through San Juan— but the border and inter-jurisdictional environmental jurisdiction dispute that gave rise to it.
regulatorioTension between provincial local content and the stability committed under the RIGIThe pending provincial regulation, which the Ministerio de Minería placed before the end of 2026, and how that regulation words the targets. A specialist press analysis (Minería & Desarrollo, 7 Jul 2026) argues that if it turns them into mandatory quotas there are grounds to challenge their constitutionality against the 30-year stability, and that read as a voluntary incentive regime they hold up. The San Juan Mining Chamber supported the law's objectives and called for transparency, competition, predictability and openness. thesis Jul 16, 2026+
If the regulation of Ley 2827-M turned the 80% and 60% targets into rigid quotas, there would be grounds for a challenge against the regime's stability.
The permits the works need, and where each one stands.
Environmental Impact Statement for operation granted in April 2022 by San Juan's Mining Ministry, with several updates in progress. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
San Juan approved the First and Second Update of the Environmental Impact Report for the Josemaría deposit on 16 March 2026, merging the review of two update periods into a single procedure. It is the one that incorporates the extension of mine life from 19 to 25 years, the increase in processing capacity and the multi-source water design recovering roughly 73% of process water. prob Mar 16, 2026 ↗
According to the February 2026 technical report, permits are still needed on both sides of the border: water-use authorisations, blasting permits, sectoral water and mining-operation approvals, and easements. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Obtained in July 2026, with transmission capacity secured for the operation's demand. verif Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The reform of the glacier law (Ley 27.804, enacted 8 April 2026 and published in the Official Gazette on 24 April 2026) narrowed protection to landforms that perform a hydrological function. Each province identifies those glaciers and decides case by case, through environmental impact assessment, which activities alter them materially; the prohibitions in article 6, including mining, apply to the glaciers identified by each jurisdiction's authority. The inventory remains in the hands of IANIGLA, which must remove a landform when the province establishes that it performs no hydrological function, and until that happens everything inventoried is considered protected verif. It is the rule that enables the Josemaría open pit thesis. That its 259 ha involve the inventoried glacier GE110 is stated by the organisations that took it to court prob. verif Apr 24, 2026 ↗
On the Chilean side, an Environmental Qualification Resolution from Chile's environmental assessment system is required, plus maritime concessions and approvals for discharge infrastructure prob. That conditions above all the desalination plant, the aqueduct and the Stage 3 facilities on the Chilean coast thesis. prob Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Greenpeace, FARN and the Asociación de Abogados/as Ambientalistas sought two injunctions within the class action they filed on 5 May 2026 before the Federal Court of Santa Rosa (La Pampa) against the reform of the glacier law: the first, that same day, to suspend the reform's effects; the second, on 23 June 2026, specific to the GE110 rock glacier, to bar the province and IANIGLA from removing it from the National Glacier Inventory while the case proceeds. On 8 October 2026 the court declared itself competent, but it had still resolved neither injunction verif. verif Jun 23, 2026 ↗
Ley provincial 716-M (article 17) splits royalties 70% to the Province's General Revenue, 20% to the municipality where the deposit sits and 10% to the Mining Ministry when the operating environmental permit (DIA) is later than 29 November 2007, and 55/33/12 when it is earlier verif. Vicuña falls under 70/20/10, with the municipality of Iglesia, because Josemaría's operating DIA is from 2022 prob. Veladero, with a DIA earlier than 2007, stays at 55/33/12 prob. verif Aug 8, 2026 ↗
How to tell whether it is advancing
Observable facts that show whether the project is advancing, and where to look for each.
trimestralThe Stage 1 sanctioning decision, that is, the decision to build+
trimestralVicuña's quarterly capital spending as reported by Lundin+
trimestralActual payment of the USD 250 million+
eventoThe regulation of Ley 2827-M and the effective opening of RE.PRO.MIN+
eventoAward of the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the concentrator plant+
eventoThe three remaining tenders for the camp's residential infrastructure+
eventoCommercial commissioning of the power transmission works, starting with the Chaparro substation and the 500 kV line+
How we verified this
the act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
EX-2025-137237328- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
Jun 3, 2026 verif Jun 3, 2026 ↗
Jul 28, 2026 verif Jul 28, 2026 ↗
Jul 30, 2026 (notice 345167) verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
12 facts on the commitment
20 % verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
The «minimum investment amount» in art. 40 subsection c of Annex I of decreto 749/2024, NOT the project's capex nor its computable assets. verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
2.000 USD million (fixed threshold in art. 40 subsection c for every strategic export project) verif Aug 23, 2024 ↗
400 USD million estim Jul 30, 2026
2.009,313 USD million (committed for years 1-2) verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
2028-12-31 verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
9.737,014 USD million (total investment declared in the instrument) verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
9.024,732 USD million (assets computable under the regime) verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
Vicuña Argentina S.A., tax ID 33-61913055-9, registered at Ingeniero Enrique Butty 239, Ground Floor, Buenos Aires City. verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
Dec 11, 2025 verif Dec 11, 2025 ↗
Jun 16, 2026 verif Jun 16, 2026 ↗
The Mining Secretariat, which art. 8 charges with oversight and control. verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
How much it commits to invest, and how it pays for it
8 facts on the investment
1.128,883 USD million in computable assets verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
7.895,850 USD million in computable assets verif Jul 30, 2026 ↗
7.100 USD million (engineering capex, 100% basis) verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
3.900 USD million (engineering capex, 100% basis) verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
7.100 USD million (engineering capex, 100% basis) verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
18.100 USD million estim Feb 16, 2026
30.300 USD million over 70+ years verif Feb 16, 2026 ↗
126,6 USD million in the first half of 2026 (against 74.9 in the same period of 2025) verif Jun 30, 2026 ↗
What we could not confirm
There are 15 in this project. Each says why it could not be confirmed and what it would take to close it.
H-01That the INA-CRAS warned that pumping at Josemaría exceeds natural recharge+
The claim DOES have a source —Agencia Tierra Viva— but it is a single one, from an outlet with a stated position, and we had already sealed it as probable, with a critical source and pending cross-checking. That cross-check was never closed: the sweep of 10 Aug 2026 found no INA-CRAS report or opinion on these well fields, and the article that does carry the file's figures (Tiempo de San Juan, 26 Aug 2025) does not mention the agency. What INA-CRAS does publish is its Seventh Technical Report (May 2026) on the TULUM aquifer, which is another basin —the populated, farmed valley— and not the Andean micro-basins Josemaría would draw from. That is why we do not publish it among the project's risks: attributing to a State agency a warning about this project requires the same convergence of sources we demand of a favorable fact.
H-02The provincial resolution enacting the update of the environmental approval of 16 Mar 2026+
The milestone is confirmed by the operator's own statement and converges with provincial and mining press, but it is an act of the State and its resolution number appears in no open source. San Juan's Boletín Oficial could not be opened: its PDFs hang off contenido.sanjuan.gob.ar, a server that was completely down on 8 Aug 2026. That is why the fact stays `probable` and does not rise to `verified` (METODOLOGIA §2c).
H-03What happened to La Rioja file 45863 after the 30-day term expired+
The emergency injunction of 16 Apr 2026 had a 30-day term that expired around 16 May. No source was found reporting whether it was extended, appealed, revoked or simply lapsed, nor whether La Rioja actually took the inter-jurisdictional environmental jurisdiction question to the Supreme Court as it had signalled. The risk is published because of the border dispute, which is indeed open, not because that injunction is in force.
H-04The operating headcount+
The company does not publish it in any open statement. It is a real gap and not an oversight: Lundin publishes construction employment and does not publish operating employment. The figures in circulation («5,000 direct + 19,000 indirect in operation») are almost exactly the pair the primary source attributes to construction.
H-05The Stage 1 capex breakdown+
The company itself lists it among its pending milestones: «completion of Stage 1 capital cost estimate and construction schedule». Without that there is no investment decision.
H-06The federal injunction over glacier GE110+
The court is known (the Federal Court of Santa Rosa, La Pampa, which declared itself competent on 8 October 2026), but not the case name or the file number, and neither of the two injunctions has been resolved.
H-07The altitudes of the two deposits (~4,535 and ~4,885 m above sea level)+
Misattributed source: the fan-out assigned them to the statement of 16 Feb 2026, and the challenger opened that statement and the district page without finding them. Their real home is the NI 43-101 technical report, which nobody opened.
H-08The format of the strategic-export threshold figure in decreto 749/2024+
Art. 40 item c publishes the amount in words («DÓLARES ESTADOUNIDENSES DOS MIL MILLONES») and with a malformed numeral («USD 2.0. 000.000.-») that appears the same on both official surfaces opened. The value is settled by the words; what is missing is seeing the numeral properly printed.
H-09The cost, the kilometers and the term of Ruta 40 Norte, and the full list of works the contribution funds+
The official announcement of 6 Aug 2026 confirms the purpose and the departments benefited, but publishes neither amount nor route nor schedule; of all the works in the agreement, only Ruta 40 Norte is identified. It is a commitment on purpose, not a list of works.
H-10Whether the Corredor Norte sits on a public route and with public use+
No source says so. It is 220 km of mountain road paid for by the private party and ending at the deposit; the research material asserted it as a fact and it was withdrawn for lack of backing.
H-11The actual status of the mining suppliers register+
The law creates it and defines its effects, but its start-up is backed only by statements from the mining minister carried by the press: there is no administrative act enabling it and no online portal that can be opened. The «60-70% progress» is a statement, not a verifiable fact.
H-12Which of the two deadlines of art. 29 of Ley 2827-M applies to this project+
The law gives 60 calendar days from entry into force to those who already had a plan filed under an approved environmental approval, and 90 days to those who did not. No open source says whether Vicuña had one under its 2022 approval; the supplier development plan on record as filed is the one under the federal regime, which is a different one.
H-13Working capital required of suppliers, payment terms and a formal list of certifications+
The company publishes none of the three. The only thing that allows the ticket size to be gauged is the size of the known contracts, and on certifications there is nothing beyond the generic package of the vendor-approval platform.
H-14Stamp duty and the «Four per Thousand» of the Special Mining Development Fund+
Both appear in the research material as a charge on contracts and on those who supply the mining companies, but no primary source was opened: the stamp duty rate was not read in the corresponding title of the tax law, and the Fund has, by the material's own admission, an unidentified founding law. An act of the State is not published on that backing.
H-15The «90% local labour» attributed to Vicuña+
It circulates in the press as a company promise and was not located in any document of its own. That is why it does not enter the promises block: checking it in 2030 would first require confirming it was actually said.
We look at what your company does and tell you whether we see a sign that it fits this market, with the evidence behind it. If we do not see one, we say so too and name the condition that would change it. One page as a dated PDF, within 48 working hours.
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Frequently asked questions
Has Vicuña started building?Not strictlyverif+
The investment decision has not been taken and the company places it «as early as end-2026». What is happening is early works: in the second quarter of 2026 24 trucks were mobilized and 1.1 million tonnes of earth moved. According to its technical report of February 2026, the company plans to start formal construction in 2027, with 40 months of works verif. ↗
When does it start producing copper?The target is 2030, with Stage 1 completed that yearprob+
It is a company-stated target, not a committed date: it hangs on an investment decision that has not been taken yet. ↗
How many jobs does it create?In construction, the company estimates an average of ~5,500 direct and ~19,000 indirect jobs over the ~40 months of works it plans between 2027 and 2030: that is an average, not a peak, and it does not publish the peakprob+
The operating headcount does not appear in its technical report. ↗
What does the RIGI require in exchange for the benefits?Evidencing, in the first two years from notification, an investment in computable assets of at least 20% of the minimum investment amountverif+
That amount is not the project's capex: it is the fixed threshold of USD 2,000 million that decreto 749/2024 sets for long-term strategic export projects, so the real floor is USD 400 million. The project declared a plan of USD 2,009.3 million for that period: five times the minimum. ↗
Are Josemaría and Filo del Sol two projects or one?They are two deposits, some 10 km apart, developed since 2025 as one integrated project under the Vicuña nameprob+
Josemaría is Stage 1 —it is the only deposit with measured resources, that is, the mature one— and Filo del Sol comes in at stages 2 and 3. ↗
How much will it actually invest?It depends which number you look at, and there are three different onesverif+
The engineering capex of the three stages adds up to USD 18,100 million verif. The RIGI act declares a total investment of USD 9,737 million and countable assets of USD 9,024.7 million, to be executed in two stages. And what has actually been spent so far is far less: Lundin reports USD 126.6 million as its half in the first half of 2026 verif. The RIGI act's amount is closer to the study's Stage 1 (USD 7,100 million) than to the total thesis. ↗
Official sources
- 20+ years in technology, 15 of them in data and AI, for clients across Europe and the Americas
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