Vicuña (Josemaría + Filo del Sol) — copper, gold and silver
The largest mining project in Argentine history and the first copper PEELP: 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»; formal construction starts in 2027 and runs 40 months. RIGI accession unlocks the fiscal condition preceding that decision.
The projectwhat 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 kilometres apart, in the Andes of the Iglesia department, on the border with Chile and above 4,500 metres. They are operated by Vicuña Corp., the joint venture of BHP and Lundin Mining. 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 kilometres 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 entirely on the Argentine side; Filo del Sol extends across both sides of the border and therefore has its own Chilean permitting. The two deposits are ~10 km apart, which is what allows them to be treated as a single district with shared infrastructure. 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), ~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 Northern Access Road), currently being upgraded. There is no intermediate town able to house contractors: Iglesia does not have a single formal hotel. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
NOT through an Argentine port. The concentrate leaves by truck in rotainers along the northern road and public routes to a Chilean port in stages 1 and 2; only in Stage 3 does a concentrate slurry pipeline appear. The Agua Negra pass (4,780 m) still has no tunnel: the tender was suspended in 2019 and the works never started. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
175.000 t/day (sulphide concentrator, ~64 Mt/year) — Josemaría open-pit mine prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Copper concentrate (with gold and silver) in the sulphide stages; cathodes and doré metal via SX/EW in the oxide stage. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
380 MW for Stages 1 and 2; 738 MW with all three stages. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
A new 500 kV line, 167 km, to the Chaparro transformer station (near Rodeo), transitioning to a 220 kV double circuit and a final stretch to the Josemaría substation. prob · 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 authorised 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). 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 · 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 ↗
Northern Access Road: 220 km from Angualasto, being upgraded. Maintenance of the existing Angualasto-La Majadita road (170 km) is under contract; sections A-D of the new corridor have been tendered since January 2026 (section A of 63.6 km; B-C-D of ~107.4 km; includes a 100 m bridge over the Blanco river). prob · Jun 30, 2026 ↗
Expansion of the Batidero camp by ~45,000 m² and ~2,000 beds (~USD 50-52 M), awarded in June 2026. It would be around 25% of the final residential infrastructure and the first of four tenders. prob · Jun 5, 2026 ↗
The Agua Negra tunnel (works never started), 36 unpaved km on the Argentine side of RN 150 towards the pass, the Albardón-Jáchal rail branch not yet converted to broad gauge, and Route 40 North between Albardón and Jáchal officially described as destroyed. 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 prob · 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 prob · 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 joint venture between Lundin Mining and BHP, incorporated on 15 Jan 2025 when the joint acquisition of Filo Corp and the sale to BHP of 50% of Josemaría closed. CEO: Ron Hochstein (since 15 Sep 2025). Country director in Argentina: José Luis Morea. 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
San Juan's legislature 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 that alone (file 1904-2026, sent by the Executive with Message No. 34). The stated purpose is the legal regime of the environmental-approval contribution, the fixed contribution and the early execution of strategic infrastructure works. Enactment and publication are still pending: the law does not yet appear with its number in the provincial Boletín Oficial or in the Digesto.
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; the road to Cordillera is almost finished and two drill platforms are complete.
The Evaluation Committee approves the accession: the country's first copper project in the long-term strategic export category.
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 Corp files its RIGI accession application in the long-term strategic export 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.
Who already has a contract
Awarded on Jun 3, 2025. Schedule ~13 months, ~100 direct and indirect jobs.
Leads the consortium awarded the camp expansion (~45,000 m², ~USD 52 M).
Part of the Batidero camp consortium.
Part of the Batidero camp consortium. The competing bid, from Argentina’s Modular Homes, was around USD 70 million against the USD 52 million awarded: a USD 18 million gap that the source publishes as a 26% difference. The contract covers barely 25% of the final camp: three more stages remain to be awarded.
How to supply itwhere to register, what they ask for and what they will buy
How to become a supplier
Vicuña Argentina S.A., CUIT 33-61913055-9, with offices at Ingeniero Enrique Butty 239, Ground Floor, CABA. Unlike Veladero and Gualcamayo, here there is NO branch dedicated to the RIGI: the whole company joined, so you invoice directly and with no split entity. The flip side for a San Juan supplier is that contract administration sits in Buenos Aires, not in the province.
The Procurement and Contracts area of Vicuña Corp, under country director José Luis Morea. The joint venture is 50/50 between BHP and Lundin Mining, so its sourcing policies inherit the standards of two majors and not those of a local operator: the vendor-approval filter is corporate even when the tender is provincial. Purchasing decisions on the large packages are structured as private invitation tenders, and the local door is usually one step below — in the subcontract of whichever contractor wins.
The registration routes that exist today, with their status. The one that is up and running is not always the official one.
ACHILLES
up and running todayThis is the real single window today: Vicuña has channelled its supply chain through this platform since December 2024, with more than 2,000 registered companies. The assessment covers legal, tax, environmental, labour and ESG matters, and onboarding runs from 1-2 days for a small SME to around 15 days for a multinational. If you are not on Achilles, you do not exist for Procurement.
Go to the single windowabrirRE.PRO.MIN — San Juan Mining Suppliers Register
being builtIt is created by art. 11 of Ley provincial 2827-M under the Ministerio de Minería, as a single, official, public and freely searchable register issuing a Local Supplier certificate stating residence and category. What makes it decisive rather than one more formality: art. 9 says that «únicamente serán computables las contrataciones realizadas con proveedores inscriptos y con certificado vigente en RE.PRO.MIN», so outside the register a sale to the mine does not count towards the 60% local purchasing target. It is not operational yet.
What they ask you for
Having an authorised operating establishment in the supplier's name, with actual domicile in the department of influence or elsewhere in San Juan, and legal and tax domicile in that same jurisdiction. Art. 13 defines what counts as an establishment for each of the four categories: goods manufacturer, goods trader, services provider and local construction firm. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12 items 1 and 2, and art. 13.
Evidencing local roots by ONE of two routes, at your choice: holding at least 51% of the share capital —or of the votes that form the corporate will— in the hands of people with legal and tax domicile in the province, additionally evidencing the ultimate beneficial owners where the shareholders are legal entities; OR, only if the activity is goods manufacturing or services, evidencing that the main establishment —the operational core of the activity— is the supplier's exclusive property and is located in San Juan. The second route is the one that works for an outside company that sets up production without giving away its shareholding. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12 item 3, paragraphs a) and b).
Employing local workers at no less than 80% of the average annual payroll, counting only the payroll assigned to supply contracts linked to mining projects located in San Juan. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12 item 4.
Having all vehicles assigned to work on a mining project in the province registered in San Juan and paying the provincial vehicle tax — including those rented or contracted from third parties, not just your own. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12 item 5.
Minimum seniority: 24 months to qualify as a Local Supplier of the Community of Influence —the department where the project sits, which for Vicuña is Iglesia— and 12 months to qualify as a Local Supplier from the rest of the province. Seniority is counted on domicile and establishment, or on continuous months of invoicing if local roots are evidenced through the main-establishment route. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12, closing paragraphs.
Filing your own local supplier development plan, with the adjustments and exceptions the regulation sets; and, if the municipality has joined the law, having municipal service fees up to date. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 12 items 6 and 7, and art. 28.
Approval on ACHILLES: legal, tax, environmental, labour and ESG assessment. It is the operator's base filter and it is independent of the provincial law — you meet both, not one or the other. No open source publishes a formal list of ISO standards required by Vicuña beyond that package. prob · 2026 ↗A requirement stated by the operator through the platform; the detail of standards required is not published.
Construction firms add a requirement of their own: being listed in the Provincial Register of Builders of the Ministerio de Infraestructura, Agua y Energía with no less than 24 months of seniority. verif · Jul 16, 2026 ↗Ley provincial 2827-M, art. 13 item 4.
The order you get in by
Get approved on ACHILLES, which is the window Procurement uses today. Without it you receive no invitation to quote, however good your offer is. from 1-2 days for a small SME to around 15 days for a multinational (stated, not committed)
Sort out your local roots before RE.PRO.MIN opens, because the register will look backwards: legal and tax domicile in the province, an authorised operating establishment, one of the two local-roots routes of art. 12 and the fleet registered in San Juan. The 24- and 12-month clocks run from when that is done, not from when you apply. 24 months of seniority to be a supplier of the community of influence; 12 months for the rest of the province
If you cannot reach local-roots status on your own, the law opens two explicit doors and both work for a supplier from another province: joining a joint venture or collaboration contract with at least 25% local participation, which is registered as an Association of Companies with Local Participation and counts in proportion to that participation (art. 14); or asking the Enforcement Authority for the art. 12 exception, on grounds of differential development, verified real investment or technology transfer.
Register with RE.PRO.MIN as soon as it opens and keep the certificate current: without a certificate the purchase does not count towards the 60% target, so the register is not a formality but the key to the preference.
Get in through the business rounds and the sector chambers while you sort out the above. It is the channel where meetings with Procurement and Contracts are currently obtained, and where the operator has been scoring in favour of proposals that bring in San Juan suppliers.
Target the packages that are open now and not construction: 33 kV distribution electrical works, the camp's electrical expansion and the three remaining residential infrastructure tenders. The big window only opens with the investment decision, and whoever arrives qualified that day is not competing against someone starting the paperwork then.
What it will buy, and when
Each phase buys different things at different times. The links lead to the matching market or trade.
Exploration and resource definition
en cursoIt is still live and it is not a detail: there are no declared reserves and most of the district's tonnage sits in the inferred category. It includes geotechnical drilling at both deposits and exploration drilling at Filo del Sol.
No catalogued supplier yet: field geology and core logging · surveying and drone mapping in the high Andes · campaign nursing and high-altitude physician
Detailed engineering and permits
en cursoA Class 3 estimate achieved for Stage 1; closing the capex and the construction schedule is still pending. The regulator's electrical authorisation came in July 2026; water permits, blasting permits and easements are still outstanding, as is the Chilean environmental approval.
No catalogued supplier yet: multidisciplinary detailed engineering and project management · glaciological, cryospheric and hydrogeological consultancy with expert-witness capability · environmental baseline (climate, biodiversity, archaeology, palaeontology) · processing of water permits and easements · regime compliance: RIGI, Ley 24.196 and the provincial layer
Pre-FID early works
en cursoEarthworks and high-mountain road works with an owned fleet: 24 trucks and 1.1 Mt moved in the second quarter of 2026 alone. The road to Cordillera is almost finished, the camp expansion has been awarded and 33 kV electrical tenders are open.
No catalogued supplier yet: large-scale earthworks with an owned fleet · 33 kV distribution electrical works · rental of pickup trucks, generator sets, modular offices and mobile toilets · fuel supply in the high Andes · personal protective equipment · mountain construction camps · industrial laundry · winter road maintenance and snow control
They are not buying any of this today. Open the phase to see the detail and arrive qualified the day it goes to tender.
Construction of Stage 12027 → 2030, 40 months including 6 of commissioningpendiente10 ítems+
The big window: a 175,000 tpd concentrator, the Josemaría open pit, a 500 kV line and the permanent camp. This is where the ~5,500 average direct construction jobs fall.
No catalogued supplier yet: EPC/EPCM of the concentrator plant · boilermaking, steel structures and electromechanical assembly · conveyor belts · 500 kV line erection and substation · heavy civil works for foundations and the tailings dam · geosynthetics and geomembranes · certified high-altitude welders · instrumentation and automation · quality control and non-destructive testing · site health and safety · valley-floor hotels in Rodeo, Iglesia and Jáchal for crew rotation (non-existent today)
Commissioning and first production2030 — the last 6 of the 40 monthspendiente5 ítems+
Commissioning and plant start-up.
No catalogued supplier yet: commissioning and plant start-up · plant metallurgical laboratory · operator training and certification
Operation and maintenance of Stage 1from 2030 — capital payback of 8.4 years from that startpendiente8 ítems+
The long phase. The operating headcount is not published by the company.
No catalogued supplier yet: plant consumables: mill balls and liners, flotation reagents, lime · high-mountain electromechanical maintenance · concentrate logistics in rotainers to a Chilean port (cross-border operator) · waste management · continuous environmental and water monitoring
Stage 2 — Filo del Sol oxides and SX/EW plantno published date; the company places it in the early operating phasependiente5 ítems+
Leach pads of 24 Mt/yr and an SX/EW plant. Capex of USD 3,900 M with Class 5 engineering.
No catalogued supplier yet: construction of leach pads and irrigation systems · geomembrane welding · sulphuric acid and reagent handling · cathode electrowinning · process chemistry
Stage 3 — Filo del Sol sulphides, expansion and desalination plantyears 16-25 of operation (≈2045-2055)pendiente4 ítems+
Expansion of the concentrator to 293,000 tpd plus the district infrastructure: a desalination plant on the Chilean coast, a 2,000 l/s water pipeline, a concentrate slurry pipeline and a treatment plant. Chilean permits not yet obtained.
No catalogued supplier yet: desalination plant and 2,000 l/s pipeline from the Chilean coast · concentrate slurry pipeline and pumping stations · concentrate treatment plant · binational works under a dual regulatory framework
What it will need and has no supplier for yet
High-altitude mine and concentrator plant construction (earthmoving, Andean civil works)
highPhase 1, at ~USD 7,100 M between 2027 and 2030, concentrates the bulk of capex in construction above 4,500 m above sea level.
High-altitude logistics and concentrate transport (San Juan-Chile/ports corridor)
highThe project sits on the border with Chile and ships its concentrate out through a Chilean port: the logistics chain is new, cross-border and large-scale.
Power, water and camps for the construction phase
highThe 2027-2030 construction peak, averaging ~5,500 direct workers, demands support infrastructure comparable to a temporary town in a department without a single formal hotel.
Glaciological, cryospheric and hydrogeological consulting with court-expert capability
mediumThe project's risk is no longer the provincial environmental permit, which has been granted, but the courts: a glacier-based challenge is fought with technical expertise, and that capability is not in the province's supplier catalogue.
Get on board the takeoff
This week’s updates: proyectos RIGI, proveedores y datos verificados de San Juan and new provinces as they launch. Free.
What it leaves in San Juanjobs, 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) prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
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
energiaof 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 favour 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 authorised access of 260 MW for Josemaría phase 1.
220 kV private-use power line, Chaparro substation–Josemaría substation
energiadouble circuit, 220 kV — the final stretch between the Chaparro substation (the 500 kV backbone) and the Josemaría substation, inside the mining site.
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 authorised 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
vialof mountain road from Angualasto, with new sections A to D (section A of 63.6 km to Junta La Palca; sections B, C and D of ~107.4 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 only access to the deep north of the Iglesia department. 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: art. 19 of Ley 716-M allows road works to be offset against royalties if the provincial legislature declares them of public utility by a two-thirds vote. That act, if it comes, would be precisely what makes it a public work — and also what deducts it from the royalty.
The road to Cordillera is almost finished, with two drill platforms complete, according to Lundin's second-quarter 2026 report. The detail of sections, kilometres 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
vialIt 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 government itself describes it today as destroyed, so what stays behind is not a marginal improvement but a recovered route.
The Government of San Juan confirmed on 6 Aug 2026 that Ruta 40 Norte 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.
pendienteLundin 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 ↗+
parcialMarcelo 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 ↗+
pendienteSan 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 ↗+
pendienteJuan Pablo Perea · That the regulation of the Local Mining Development law and RE.PRO.MIN be operational before the end of 2026 prob · Jul 16, 2026 ↗+
cumplidaVicuña 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 ↗+
pendienteLundin 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 from 2027 to 2030 prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
pendienteLundin 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 prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
pendienteLundin 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 ↗+
pendienteJosé Luis Morea · That the awarded expansion of the Batidero camp accounts for around 25% of the permanent residential infrastructure and is the first of four tenders prob · Jun 5, 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 kilometres 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 kilometres of mountain road from Angualasto and a 100-metre bridge over the Blanco river, the only access to the deep north of Iglesia. And what stays is Route 40 between Albardón and Jáchal — which the government itself now describes as destroyed — rebuilt across five departments: Albardón, Ullum, Jáchal, Iglesia and Calingasta. That road is not a mining road. It is how the 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 categories 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 itrisks 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.
regulatorioThe provincial agreement, the 1.5% trust and the fixing of the 3% royalty already have legislative approval, but they are not yet published law: enactment and publication in the provincial Boletín Oficial are still missingThe step remaining with the provincial Executive. The condition the operator had stated —«The Provincial Agreement remains subject to approval by the San Juan Legislature prior to being passed into law»— was met on 19 Aug 2026, by 27 votes to 9. verif · Aug 19, 2026 ↗+
judicialA court challenge over the pit advancing onto catalogued 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 licenceThe «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 favour 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 the desalination plant, the pipeline and the Stage 3 concentrate export routeChile's environmental assessment service: as of the company's statement in February 2026 it had not yet ruled on the environmental qualification resolution. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗+
logisticoNeighbouring-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 emergency injunction 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. That the dispute escalates to the Supreme Court is an open possibility, not an announced step. 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 ↗
Pending, according to the company itself. Among the next milestones it lists is «Receipt of project permit amendment». 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, promulgated without observations by Decreto 271/2026 and published in the Official Gazette on 24 April 2026) narrowed protection to landforms that perform a hydrological function and delegated to each province the inventory and case-by-case assessment: the prohibitions in art. 6 — including mining — apply only to glaciers IDENTIFIED by each jurisdiction's authority and only against activities that alter them materially, and it is the provincial authority that determines this through environmental impact assessment. It is the rule that enables the Josemaría open pit. That its 259 ha involve the catalogued glacier GE110 is a press report this record could not confirm in a source of its own. verif · Apr 24, 2026 ↗
An Environmental Qualification Resolution must be obtained through the Chilean environmental impact assessment system, plus maritime concessions and approvals for discharge infrastructure. It conditions the desalination plant, the aqueduct and the Stage 3 port outlet. prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
Greenpeace, FARN and the Environmental Lawyers Association sought two injunctions within the class action they filed on 5 May 2026 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. As of 16 July 2026 the courts had resolved neither. verif · Jun 23, 2026 ↗
Vicuña falls under the 70/20/10 split of ley provincial 716-M: 70% to the Province's General Revenue, 20% to the municipality where the deposit sits — the Iglesia department — and 10% to the Mining Ministry. Art. 17 sets out two schemes depending on the date of the operating environmental permit, and Josemaría falls on the side after 29 November 2007: its permit is from April 2022. The other scheme, 55/33/12, governs deposits permitted before that date, such as Veladero. 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+
eventoPublication of the law ratifying the provincial agreement+
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 thisthe act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
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
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 prob · Dec 11, 2025 ↗
Jun 16, 2026 prob · Jun 16, 2026 ↗
The Mining Secretariat, which art. 8 charges with oversight and control. prob · 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) prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
3.900 USD million (engineering capex, 100% basis) prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
7.100 USD million (engineering capex, 100% basis) prob · Feb 16, 2026 ↗
18.100 USD million estim · Feb 16, 2026
30.300 USD million over 70+ years prob · 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 favourable 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+
A single press source, with no court, no case name and no file number.
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 kilometres 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.
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 mobilised and 1.1 million tonnes of earth moved, and the road to Cordillera is almost finished. Formal construction starts in 2027 and lasts 40 months. ↗
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 from 2027 to 2030 — that is an average, not a peak, and it does not publish the peakprob+
The operating headcount is not published. ↗
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 threeverif+
The engineering capex of the three stages adds up to USD 18,100 million, spread over ~25 years. The RIGI act declares a total investment of USD 9,737 million and computable assets of USD 9,024.7 million, which essentially cover Stage 1. And what has actually been spent so far is far less: Lundin reports USD 126.6 million in the first half of 2026. ↗
Who do you invoice?Vicuña Argentina S.A., CUIT 33-61913055-9, with offices at Ingeniero Enrique Butty 239, CABAverif+
Unlike Veladero and Gualcamayo, here there is no branch dedicated to the RIGI: the whole company joined, so you invoice directly, with no split entity. ↗
Official sources
