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    Lundin’s $215M Caserones–Los Helados deal: production and plant-use notes for mine planners

    March 11, 2026|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    Lundin’s $215M Caserones–Los Helados deal: production and plant-use notes for mine planners

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Lundin Mining will spend $215 million to lift its stake in Chile’s Caserones open-pit copper-molybdenum mine to 75% and acquire 31% of the nearby Los Helados copper-gold deposit plus a 0.62% NSR royalty from JX Advanced Metals, with completion targeted for April. Caserones produced 132,881 tonnes of copper in 2025 at a cash cost of $2.17/lb, and Lundin expects the deal to add up to 7,000 tonnes of attributable copper in 2026 and generate immediate free cash flow. Los Helados, 17 km south of Caserones, hosts 2.1 billion tonnes indicated at 0.4% Cu, 0.15 g/t Au and 1.5 g/t Ag, and Lundin is evaluating trucking higher-grade ore to the existing Caserones plant to displace lower-grade feed.

    Technical Brief

    • TD Cowen values Lundin’s existing 70% Caserones stake at C$2.5 billion, implying ~C$180 million for the incremental 5%.
    • Caserones, in Chile’s Atacama region near the Argentine border, produces copper and molybdenum concentrates plus copper cathode.
    • The mine’s 2025 copper output of 132,881 tonnes was delivered at a reported cash cost of $2.17/lb.
    • Lundin first acquired 51% of Caserones in 2023, then lifted this to 70% in 2024 before the latest deal.
    • Los Helados, 17 km south of Caserones, is majority owned and operated by NGEx Minerals with a 69% interest.
    • The Los Helados resource (2023) reports 8.3 Mt contained Cu, 10.2 Moz Au and 97.5 Moz Ag in indicated category.
    • Inferred resources at Los Helados add 3.7 Mt Cu, 3.6 Moz Au and 50.2 Moz Ag over 1.1 billion tonnes.

    Our Take

    The implied C$180 million valuation for Lundin Mining’s incremental 5% in SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile is at a discount to TD Cowen’s C$2.5 billion value for the 70% Caserones stake, suggesting Lundin is effectively paying a modest control premium while still capturing upside from any future resource or throughput debottlenecking at the Caserones plant.

    With Los Helados only 17 km from Caserones and carrying multi‑billion‑tonne copper‑gold resources, the combination of Lundin’s 31% interest and 0.62% NSR royalty positions the company to be a natural hub operator for any future district‑scale infrastructure sharing in Chile’s arid north, including power, water and concentrate logistics across the Vicuña mining district.

    Copper pieces dominate our recent Mining coverage, and the Codelco–Microsoft AI MoU in Chile sits alongside this Lundin transaction as another example of major operators in the Atacama region trying to squeeze more value from large, relatively low‑grade porphyries through both portfolio consolidation and technology‑enabled productivity gains.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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