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    Mendoza’s $559m PSJ Cobre Mendocino copper mine: capex, schedule and design notes

    December 11, 2025|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    Mendoza’s $559m PSJ Cobre Mendocino copper mine: capex, schedule and design notes

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Argentina’s Mendoza province has approved the PSJ Cobre Mendocino project, a $559 million joint venture between Zonda Metals and Alberdi Energy, marking its first large-scale mine in over 20 years after Senate endorsement of the environmental impact statement. The Uspallata operation is planned for 40,000 tonnes per year of copper concentrate over a 16-year mine life, using conventional flotation, with construction scheduled for 18–24 months and an estimated 3,900 construction and 2,400 operating jobs. The project now moves into detailed engineering, feasibility, cost and financing analysis before a construction decision.

    Technical Brief

    • Conventional flotation circuit is specified, with explicit commitment to avoid any “illegal substances” in processing.
    • Environmental impact statement approval followed a 13‑year study period and a recent 10‑day public hearing.
    • More than 9,500 written submissions were received in consultation, with reported public support above 60%.
    • Project is located at Uspallata in the Las Heras department, within Mendoza province.
    • Joint venture structure pairs Switzerland’s Zonda Metals with Argentine operator Alberdi Energy for ownership and execution.
    • Mendoza Senate ratification ends a lengthy provincial review, enabling progression into formal technical feasibility reporting.
    • Upcoming feasibility work will integrate detailed engineering, cost estimation, financing analysis, and market/closure planning.
    • Nationally, the project aligns with federal RIGI incentives already applied to McEwen’s Los Azules copper project.

    Our Take

    Mendoza’s approval of the Cobre Mendocino copper project after a 13‑year study period and a 20‑year gap since the last large-scale mine signals that provincial permitting in Argentina can be protracted but ultimately predictable for well-documented projects, which is relevant for other copper and critical minerals developers eyeing the Andes belt.

    The 16‑year mine life and 18–24‑month construction window put Cobre Mendocino into the medium-scale, near‑term supply bracket in our copper coverage, meaning it could come online in a similar timeframe to other Latin American projects now moving from study to execution in the 247 Mining stories database.

    With Alumbrera having closed in 2018 and Los Azules still in the development pipeline, this approval helps re-establish Argentina—specifically Mendoza—as an active copper jurisdiction, which may improve the strategic case for infrastructure sharing and service clusters across projects held by groups such as McEwen and newer entrants like PSJ Cobre Mendocino and Zonda Metals.

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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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