Anglo American plc’s 50.1% owned subsidiary Anglo American Sur SA (AAS) and Codelco have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a framework to implement a joint mine plan for the two companies’ respective, adjacent copper mines of Los Bronces (pictured) and Andina in Chile.
The joint mine plan will increase copper production with minimal additional capital required, helping to unlock the full value of this world-class mining district and generating an expected NPV uplift of at least $5 billion, pre-tax, over the period of the agreement, to be shared equally, they say.
A new operating company, jointly owned and controlled by AAS and Codelco, will coordinate the execution of the joint mine plan and optimise the use of the processing capacity of the two operations. The resulting copper production and value generated, as well as any costs and liabilities from the joint mine plan, will be shared equally between AAS and Codelco. AAS and Codelco will retain full ownership rights of their respective assets, such as mining concessions, plants, and ancillary assets and will continue to exploit their respective concessions separately.
Duncan Wanblad, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “Copper is at the forefront of our growth ambitions and we already have a clear pathway to more than 1 Mt of annual copper production by the early 2030s, a 30% increase. Building on that growth pipeline, Los Bronces and Andina present obvious and significant adjacency benefits and together represent approximately 2% of global copper resources and reserves, with approximately 60 Mt of contained copper1. By putting in place a joint mine plan and optimising the use of our respective processing plants, we believe we can unlock an additional 2.7 Mt of copper production over a 21-year period from 2030 alongside other operational synergies made possible by coordinating our activities across the site. Anglo American and Codelco will both retain flexibility to develop separate standalone projects, including development of underground resources during the period of the joint mine plan in an appropriately coordinated manner.
“Our technical teams have been working together for many years to identify the optimal configuration to unlock the full value of this extraordinary mining district. We are delighted that our work with Codelco has created the foundations for an agreement that can create very significant additional value for Anglo American and Codelco, for our JV partners in AA Sur and other stakeholders, and for Chile.”
Máximo Pacheco, Chairman of Codelco, added: “Codelco and Anglo American have been good neighbours for decades. This relationship has developed through more than 10 cooperation agreements between the two companies over half a century. Today, we have a unique opportunity to rethink the development of this mining district and take a strategic and beneficial step: moving forward with an alliance that will allow us to increase copper production by an average of nearly 120,000 t of fine copper per year, without any material additional investments. Considering total production, this district would become one of the three most important in Chile and the fourth worldwide. In this way, we will contribute a critical mineral for the transition to a decarbonised economy and generate additional value of at least $5 billion pre-tax, increasing our contribution in the short and medium term while strengthening Chile’s position as a leading global copper supplier.
“This project represents an unprecedented public-private collaboration model globally, with a corporate governance structure equally composed of Codelco and Anglo American. Each company will conduct its mining operations independently but in a coordinated manner, safeguarding the current socio-environmental commitments of both and placing the protection of high Andean ecosystems and their biodiversity at the centre.”
The companies have also established sustainability principles to guide the implementation of the joint mine plan, which safeguard both social programs and existing environmental commitments, they say.
Under the terms of the MoU, Anglo American and Codelco are working towards concluding due diligence and entering into definitive agreements in the second half of 2025. The agreements will be subject to a number of conditions including securing environmental permits for the joint mine plan and regulatory approvals. In the interim, both Los Bronces and Andina will continue to operate as they currently do, based on the 2019 cooperation agreement between the two mines.
Anglo American has been pursuing plans to expand Los Bronces through the Los Bronces Integrated Project (LBIP), which looked to develop the next phase of the existing open pit within Los Bronces’ operating site and replace future lower grade ore by accessing higher grade ore from a new underground section of the mine.
