The “largest investment in history” promises to generate more than US$6 billion per year, the same as all current mining

The recovery of that disbursement will take a little more than 8 years, the treturn handle will be almost 15% and the net present value is US$ 9.5 billion with estimates of future metal prices very conservative, below their current values; in fact, at the prices spotthe recovery will accelerate to just over 5 years, the profitability rate will exceed 25% and the net present value amounts to US$ 28.8 billion.

Yet, Vicuña alone will generate more dollars than all current mining -not to mention that in the coming years large copper and lithium projects would also come into production and gold mines will be promoted-. Last year the sector exported US$6,037 milliona nominal historical record, mainly due to the increase in the international price of gold.

If it comes to fruition, Vicuña could contribute exports equivalent to about 7% of everything that Argentina sells to the world today. For an economy chronically short of dollars, this additional flow would alleviate the external restriction and strengthen the reserves of the Central Bank (BCRA).

In terms of employment, it is expected that at the peak of the construction stage some 12,000 direct workerswhile in the operation the demand will be 5,500 direct jobs and another 19,000 indirect. Meanwhile, some 2,000 people already work in Vicuña and progress is being made in awarding contracts to suppliers, mainly local.

The Vicuña project presented its application to join the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) as a Long-Term Strategic Export Project for an amount that has not yet been publicly reported, but seeks to protect disbursements of at least US$2 billion in the first two years.

During 2026, BHP and Lundin Mining will allocate US$ 790 million – at a rate of US$ 395 million each – to the development of the Josemaría mine and the preliminary studies for Edge of the Sun.

The final investment decision is expected to be confirmed before the end of the year.; and the following year investments would exceed US$ 1.2 billion, with the beginning of the construction of Josemaría, on the edge of the border between San Juan and La Rioja.

In the first 25 years of operations, average annual production will be 400,000 tons of copper, 700,000 ounces of gold and 22 million ounces of silver, but at the peak those figures will reach 500,000 tons of copper, 800,000 ounces of gold and 20 million ounces of silver.

Last week Lundin Mining announced that it secured a line of credit from 17 lenders for $4.5 billion for the financing of Vicuña, which will fund its next stages of development with the cash generated by its own production. He cash flow average of the first 25 years will be US$ 2.2 billion annually.

During the production stage, Vicuña will contribute approximately US$965 million per year in taxes and royalties to the Argentine economy.

According to Ron Hochstein, CEO of Vicuña, the final confirmation of the investment “depends on many factors, including advancing with engineering studies, agreements with the province and with Chile for the binational treaty.”

The global executive, a Canadian with a long history at Lundin who is now considering moving to Argentina, considered that to match future demand for copper, “10 projects like Vicuña are needed around the world“Given the factual impossibility of that happening, it is very likely that prices will continue to increase in the next decade, due to the need for global electrification and the growth of artificial intelligence.

Hochstein participated this week in a meeting with President Javier Milei and his team at Casa Rosada, along with Vicuña’s Country Manager for Argentina and Chile, José Luis Morea, a former official during the Mauricio Macri government.

Both highlighted the “very high importance” of the RIGI to make a project of this type viable, due to the tax benefits and long-term legal stability. “The RIGI guarantees that these investments come to Argentina and are competitive, instead of going to other places in the world.”the executives confirmed.