Copper Exploration
Just as the dust settles, new concession updates force a rethink
The brownfield expansion sweeping Chile over the next decade can be attributed to the investment and expansion of large multinationals, for whom surging copper prices have provided more operating capital and, in turn, augmented investor confidence in producing mines, allowing for such ambitious projects. However, with juniors having to rely solely on financial markets and investor sentiment, Chile has not yet seen its greenfield project pipeline fill up for the years to come, due to high exploration costs, difficulties in finding economically viable deposits, and lengthy permitting times that often deter Western investors.
There is, however, still hope for Chile’s exploration companies, as the country led in copper exploration investment in 2024, representing 27.4% of the global figure. Experts predict that this US$637.4 million investment will rise in the years to come, suggesting an exciting time for the greenfield in Chile, as investor confidence has already started to return in the first months of 2025.
Fitzroy Minerals owns three exploration projects in Chile, with plans to drill all of them in 2025. Merlin Marr-Johnson, CEO, is confident that despite the hurdles, there is no better place to hold property as a junior than Chile, commenting: “I have worked across Latin America, and I can say that Chile is hands-down the most logical place to invest in mining in South America, if not the world. Argentina is moving in the right direction, but there is still not a mining culture, and there are similar problems with community relations there as in Ecuador.”
Last year, Fitzroy purchased the Buen Retiro copper project and, as part of the process, raised C$3 million to conduct 8 km of drilling at the property.
Listing in October 2024 on the Canadian Securities Exchange, Super Copper is one of the newest junior companies vying to reach development, with 74,000 hectares near Copiapó, one of Chile’s premier historic mining districts. Its flagship Cordillera Cobre project has returned 45 samples of between 1% and 10% copper concentrate, demonstrating the potential of their project. In addition to this, the company recently received a US$1 million investment from the Apeiron Investment Group as Super Copper looks to advance with further drilling and exploration programs.
The company has also entered into a JV with MetaFlo Technologies to enhance its exposure across the mining value chain and diversify its potential sources of income, all whilst remaining focused on copper exploration. “Enhancing closed-loop water systems and remediation are areas with great potential. MetaFlo Technologies has been working with chemicals for industrial applications for a long time, particularly for tunneling and soil solidification, but last year, they started working on a project for gold processing. So, we teamed up and put together their chemical team with our network of relationships to focus on copper,” outlined Zac Dolesky, Super Copper’s CEO.
Other junior companies, such as Altiplano Metals, are also relying on other sources of income to help while markets look less favorably on exploration. Altiplano owns and operates the El Peñón Mill, which has generated sales from concentrates of gold, copper, and an iron byproduct. “Having an income source makes us unique, as most juniors rely on equity markets to survive. This has been the model of junior mining since its inception, and recently, this has come under scrutiny because if you cannot raise money, the future of the company can be in doubt,” observed Alistair McIntyre, Altiplano Metals’ CEO, continuing: “A source of income has helped us invest in projects, grow our company, and manage our business, paying wages, bills, and the fees associated with the capital-intensive industry that mining is.”
Alongside the mill, Altiplano Metals is also beginning drilling on the Santa Beatriz property and has purchased two new projects in the past 12 months. “With new mining concession laws in Chile, companies are looking harder at whether they want to keep a project or not. With project information increasingly in the public realm, it helps the right team explore them and helps the entire value chain become more involved in projects,” added McIntyre.
“New concession laws mean costs have increased by 400%, so now we are more selective about the tenements we choose to retain. This said, I believe this reform will be positive for exploration in Chile.”
Hayden Locke, CEO, Marimaca Copper
The concession laws he is referring to are updates to Law 21.420, approved during the last months of Sebastián Piñera’s government, to increase government revenue from mining and prohibit companies, private landowners, and speculators from holding land without conducting meaningful exploration. The updates to the law also increase concession licenses to last for four years and require junior companies to report all geological data to the relevant government agencies.
Marimaca Copper is currently working on the DFS of its Marimaca Oxide Deposit, touted to be one of the most capital-efficient copper projects in the world. “Previously, low holding costs allowed many private landowners to sit on concessions without doing any work, essentially land banking. This prevented juniors from accessing promising areas unless they paid significant premiums,” explained Hayden Locke, CEO of Marimaca Copper, which has obtained impressive results at Pampa Medina.
Whilst the law may result in larger companies offering up more deposits for purchase by juniors and increase transparency in exploration, it could price out the smaller companies as it raises their concession fees by 300-400%. “Rather than supporting the growth of the industry, this law threatens the survival of small-scale mining, a sector that not only generates jobs but also plays a vital role in the discovery of new mineral deposits,” argued Manuel Viera Flores, president of the Chilean Mining Chamber.
Others in the industry share this view and believe the new concession law poses a threat to small-scale geologists who have played such vital roles in some of Chile's biggest and most important discoveries. “Previously, a single geologist could afford to stake and retain a property for years in anticipation of eventual interest. Now, these individuals may be priced out. There must be a balance in regulatory design. While it is important to prevent property hoarding and ensure that concessions are developed, the system must also remain accessible to individual geologists,” argued Isaac Maresky, CEO of Gold Hart Copper.
Located between the Maricunga gold belt and the Vicuña copper belt, among hundreds of small land claims held by individual geologists and local companies, Gold Hart Copper began exploring the Cachitos project and has since consolidated several additional properties in the area.
One project that has already felt the impact of the law changes is the Avispa project owned by Montero Mining. Since purchasing the land in 2020, the company has reduced the land package from 500 to 220 km2, driven by the cost of holding licenses in Chile. “Many of the easily accessible deposits have already been developed, meaning exploration for more elusive deposits is both costly and time-consuming. With licensing fees now significantly higher, smaller companies struggle to sustain large land holdings. Previous exploration strategies of acquiring larger land packages initially and reducing them over time based on exploration results are not as easy anymore,” explained Montero Mining president and CEO Anthony Harwood.
However, he sees the alterations more as an opportunity than a threat moving forward. “Companies of all sizes have been forced to relinquish property due to increased holding costs. This has prompted major mining firms to reassess their portfolios, leading to the sale of lower-priority assets - an opportunity for junior miners looking to acquire new projects,” he elaborated.
“Our desalination project is a key infrastructure that generates economic and social benefits, garnering us community support for our mining project. Garnering this support is the second most difficult thing after finding the mineral.”
José Ignacio Silva, Country Manager and Chief Legal Counsel, Hot Chili
Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2025, Hot Chili is looking to transition into development thanks to its Costa Fuego project, which is expecting a finalized PFS to be released soon. The company has also made exciting discoveries at its La Verde project, aiming to keep exploration as a core part of the business even as it moves towards having an asset in development. “The first drilling program yielded results at 174 m of 0.4% copper and 0.2 g/t of gold. In the second drill hole DKP002, we found copper showing at a significant intercept of 308 m with a grade of 0.5% and 0.3g/t of gold. So far, we have conducted 27 drill holes to depths up to 350-400 m, with promising results starting from 28 m depth below the gravel cover. One of our drill holes is 362 m deep, presenting a grade of 0.3% Cu and 0.1g/t from 28 m onwards, which has a great growth potential and ended in mineralization,” highlighted Andrea Aravena, Hot Chili’s geology manager.
With regards to changes in concession laws, Hot Chili is optimistic that the updates will encourage more greenfield and junior exploration in Chile. José Ignacio Silva, country manager and chief legal counsel, said: “These laws are essential as major mining companies hold too many land rights, which remain unexploited, impeding juniors’ access to certain zones, creating dysfunctional incentives. These laws create incentives for major companies to dispose of these unused lands.”
This sentiment has been echoed across Chile’s junior leadership. Tribeca Resources has already benefited from the updates on the law, purchasing the Chiricuto project near Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde and Santo Domingo properties. Tribeca Resources is looking to become a multi-asset company in Chile, and the concession law updates are aiding the company in this pursuit. “Over the last couple of years, we have seen many groups moving to reduce the size of their exploration property portfolio through divestment. We have looked at around 130 projects in detail with the objective of increasing our portfolio through the acquisition of quality projects. We acquired an option on the Chiricuto project in March 2024, and the project potentially became available because the private owners of the project were looking for assistance with the increased holding fees. We aim to acquire another property this year, potentially from what some of the majors are relinquishing or divesting,” outlined Paul Gow, CEO.
After recently purchasing the shovel-ready Puquios mine outside of La Serena, Camino Minerals is well in the race to become Chile’s next producer. With an all-in sustaining cost of US$2/lb, the project is set to remain profitable even if there is an unexpected downturn in the copper price. With eyes to the future, the new concession laws present a great opportunity for companies such as Camino Minerals to grow even more within Chile. Jay Chmelauskas, outlined: “Once we are producing in Chile, we will be in a stronger position to acquire new land, and our strategy is to go after projects that can be built in a reasonable amount of time, like Puquios. This might be under the radar of major producers, and these kinds of projects, we believe, can be built within a five-to-ten-year period.”
A great advantage of mining in Chile is the public trust it enjoys. The Brújula Minera Study Center found in a 2024 survey that 83% of respondents believed the Chilean mining industry had a positive impact on the country. “This shift in popularity is excellent news for Chile and the mining industry, presenting a historic opportunity to increase its copper production by approximately 2 to 3 million t over the next 10-15 years. This would have a transformative socioeconomic impact across the country, as the mining boom in the 1990s and early 2000s played a crucial role in Chile’s economic development,” said Santiago Montt, CEO of Los Andes Copper.
Los Andes Copper has focused on community relations throughout 2024 to advance its 183,000 t/y Vizcachitas project in Putaendo toward development. It launched extensive initiatives in 2024, including biodiversity conservation and compensation projects, hoping that when ready to start permitting, the Vizcachitas project will have widespread community support. “In many other jurisdictions, regional governments actively compete to attract investment, whereas Chile often sees local authorities opposing projects regardless of political orientation. The key to resolving this challenge is ensuring that economic benefits from mining projects reach regional and local governments more effectively and promptly. Looking at global examples, Brazil provides a compelling model where states and municipalities actively compete for investments,” continued Montt.
In the modern world of mining, there are many methods available for juniors and exploration companies to ease the path towards production. Companies exploring in Chile are looking to fully exploit all of these avenues to capitalize on record metal prices and provide the next generation of mining deposits for Chile to consolidate its global leadership. It may have been a relatively quieter year in terms of regulation compared to what Chile has been accustomed to over the presidency of Boric, but updates to the concession laws still grabbed headlines.
“As the world’s foremost copper-producing nation, Chile remains an attractive destination thanks to its long history of mining and strong regulatory framework. It has a well-developed and transparent mining ecosystem.”
Santiago Montt, CEO, Los Andes Copper
Vicuña takes center stage
A landmark collaboration was announced at the beginning of 2025 between Lundin Mining and BHP, which acquired a large land package in the Vicuña district that straddles the Argentina-Chile border. The acquisition includes the Filo del Sol and Josemaria projects, and both companies will control 50% ownership of the newly created Vicuña Corp, which will operate these properties.
“We expect the Vicuña project to become one of the largest copper projects in the coming decades. Having BHP as our partner in this project is a strong validation of our confidence in copper and its future demand,” outlined Juan Andrés Morel, vice president of operations for Lundin Mining.
Since the announcement of the project, the newly formed Vicuña Corp has announced results far beyond what anyone expected, becoming the largest copper discovery in almost 30 years. The resource base has been estimated at 14 million t of copper, 32 million oz of gold, and 659 million oz of silver, impressive results for a gold and silver mine, let alone for a mine with those precious metals only as a by-product.
NGEx Minerals is a junior company bullish on the future of the Vicuña district. In Chile, NGEx owns Los Helados, a project located about 17 km from the producing Caserones mine. The project is significant in size. Just across the border in Argentina, NGEx Minerals owns the Lunahuasi land package in San Juan, one of the most exciting copper-gold-silver projects currently being explored in the world, winning the PDAC Discovery of the Year award in 2024.
Despite the relatively recent fame of the region, many years of effort have gone into developing what may be the next premier mining district in South America. “It is easy to think of the Vicuña district as something that just sprang to life recently, when in fact it is the result of 20 years of investment through thick and thin. In a long-term business such as mining, you cannot let daily or even yearly metal prices influence your decisions. Much of the success we are enjoying today is because of investments made during tougher times decades ago,” emphasized Wojtek Wodzicki, president and CEO of NGEx Minerals.
Article header image by Max Tcvetkov at Unsplash