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Rio Tinto-Glencore merger may need asset sales to win over China

Reuters | January 16, 2026 | 

Oyu Tolgoi open pit has been producing since 2012. (Image courtesy of Turquoise Hill.)

The proposed tie-up between Rio Tinto and Glencore could require asset sales to secure regulatory approval from top commodity buyer China, which has longstanding concerns about resource security and market concentration.

The two mining giants revealed last week that for the second time in two years they were in early merger talks – potentially creating the world’s largest mining company with a market value of more than $200 billion.

But analysts and lawyers said the scale of their sales to China means any deal will need approval from Beijing, as have past mining mega-deals such as Glencore’s $35 billion purchase of Xstrata in 2013.

China’s antitrust regulator is likely to be concerned about a combined entity’s concentration in copper production and marketing as well as iron ore marketing, several analysts and lawyers told Reuters. Beijing may also see an opportunity to force asset sales to friendly entities, they added.

Even before the Glencore talks were made public, Rio Tinto had already been exploring an asset-for-equity swap aimed at trimming the 11% holding of its biggest shareholder, state-run Aluminium Corporation of China, known as Chinalco. Rio Tinto’s Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea and Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia were among the assets of interest to Chinalco, sources said then.

To get the Glencore deal over the line, assets in Africa are especially likely sales candidates as Latin America has become less accepting of Chinese investment, according to Glyn Lawcock, an analyst at Barrenjoey in Sydney.

“China will see this as an opportunity to squeeze out assets,” he said.

China’s commerce ministry, its market regulator and Chinalco did not respond to questions about the deal. Glencore and Rio Tinto declined to comment.

Glencore precedent

Glencore has been here before. In 2013, Chinese regulators forced the Swiss-based company to sell its stake in the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru, one of the world’s largest, to Chinese investors for nearly $6 billion in exchange for blessing its takeover of Xstrata.

“The Las Bambas deal is still looked at as a very successful solution and it’s going to be a potential playbook that regulators can draw on,” a China-based partner at an international law firm said on condition of anonymity.

Glencore also agreed to sell Chinese customers minimum quantities of copper concentrate at certain prices for just over seven years as Beijing was concerned the merged group would have too much power over the copper market.

 

Rio Tinto, Glencore mull ASX coal spin-off

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 15, 2026

Glencore is one of Australia’s largest coal exporters, operating 13 mines in New South Wales and Queensland. (Image courtesy of Glencore.)

Rio Tinto (RIO) and Glencore (GLEN) are said to be examining whether a coal-heavy business could be spun off into an ASX-listed vehicle as part of early-stage talks on a potential merger that would create the world’s largest mining company.

The companies confirmed last week they are discussing a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, sparking speculation about how assets that sit awkwardly together would be handled, particularly coal and Glencore’s lucrative trading arm. 

“All we know is that they are trying to hammer out important details, like the price, the premium, who would run the new company, exactly what structure it would have,” Clara Ferreira Marques, Bloomberg’s Asia-Pacific head of commodities, said on the The Australia Podcast on Thursday.

“They’re hiring banking teams to help them do that, and they really have to come up with some sort of proposal by the fifth of February to meet the UK takeover panel rules.”

One option under consideration is carving out coal assets, potentially into a separately listed Australian vehicle, echoing BHP’s (ASX, LON: BHP) South32 demerger a decade ago.

Glencore’s coal operations across NSW, Queensland, central Africa and Latin America would account for about 8% of a combined group’s $45.6 billion in EBITDA and could be worth tens of billions of dollars. Glencore’s trading arm, which would represent about 9% of earnings, remains another sensitive piece of the puzzle.

Analysts have also floated alternatives, including Glencore spinning off coal ahead of any transaction or Rio bidding only for Glencore’s copper assets, following Glencore’s decision last year to abandon a self-driven coal separation.

Why now

The renewed talks come as pressures that were present a year ago have intensified, particularly around copper, scale and market positioning.

“What has changed since the last time they held talks is that some of the issues that were already there a year ago have become a lot more stark,” Ferreira Marques said. “You look at the copper price, we’re now over $13,000 a tonne. That makes the case for adding copper to your portfolio not only compelling, but urgent.”

Courtesy of Benchmark’s Copper Service.

She added that Rio’s recent share price performance has improved the financial logic of a deal, while the sector’s shrinking relative size has become harder to ignore. 

Demand for the metal is anticipated to rise by as much as 50% by 2040, according to S&P Global Energy & Market Intelligence, leading to a projected production deficit of up to 10 million tonnes annually by that time.

A Rio Tinto-Glencore tie-up would position the new company as the leading copper producer globally, accounting for approximately 7% of the world’s output.

“You look at Rio Tinto at about $141 billion, and then you look at Nvidia at $4.5 trillion,” she said. “The problem of scale is very important. It’s not just about being the biggest, it’s about being able to attract generalist investors, talent and opportunities.”

1. Includes copper demand from construction, cooling, appliances, fossil power generation, machinery and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. 2. Includes copper demand from clean energy technologies, transmission and distribution and EVs. (Courtesy of S&P’s Copper in the Age of AI.)

Leadership changes have also helped reset the dynamic. Rio now has a new chief executive in Simon Trott and a more deal-minded chair in Dominic Barton, while Glencore is led by Gary Nagle, who has called the tie-up the “most obvious” deal in mining. 

Previous talks in late 2024 stalled over valuation, culture and control, but people familiar with the discussions say both sides now appear more open to compromise.

Hurdles ahead

Price remains the primary obstacle, followed closely by cultural fit, coal exposure and regulatory risk. Rio exited thermal coal in 2018, and some investors remain constrained by mandates that bar coal holdings, even as the political climate in the US has softened and coal profitability has endured longer than expected.

Antitrust scrutiny would be significant, particularly given China’s role as a major stakeholder in Rio, and the operational risks tied to Glencore’s copper assets in jurisdictions such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speculation that BHP could attempt to disrupt the talks with a rival bid for Glencore has so far been played down.

“At this point, it’s unlikely,” Ferreira Marques said. “BHP is not a company that jumps on things at the last minute. The signalling is very much that they wouldn’t step in.” 

She cautioned, however, that early-stage deals can still unravel. “When companies talk about an M&A deal, they basically tell the world that they need to do something,” she said, adding that BHP’s earlier bid for Anglo American (LON: AAL) helped reopen the door to mega-deals across the sector.

Whether the talks culminate in a full merger that gives rise to a GlenTinto, a RioCore or something else entirely, a partial asset deal or yet another false start, the discussions underscore how urgently the world’s biggest miners are hunting for growth in an increasingly copper-constrained world.

Copper assets are in even higher demand today given the metal’s role in the green transition and artificial intelligence. Rio Tinto and Glencore are shifting their focus to the metal, as are rival miners including Australia’s BHP.

Chinese regulators will also be examining a planned $53 billion copper-focused merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources, Teck CEO Jonathan Price said in September.

Political challenges

Copper’s rising importance is politicizing the metal. The White House has alluded to China’s dominance over the supply chain as a direct threat to national security, and it remains to be seen how it would react to major mineral asset sales to Chinese interests.

A combined Rio Tinto-Glencore would market about 17% of global copper supply, according to Lawcock, although analysts at Barclays say the share of mine production is only 7.5% and unlikely to trigger major antitrust concerns.

Nonetheless politics has doomed deals before.

US chipmaker Qualcomm walked away from a $44 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors in 2018 after failing to get approval from Chinese regulators in what was seen as a response to the trade war then underway between Washington and Beijing. The inability to get Chinese regulators on board similarly sank Nvidia’s proposed takeover of Arm Ltd.

In previous resource deals, however, Beijing has given approval as part of a bargain. A year before the sale of Las Bambas, Beijing required major changes to a tie-up between Japan’s Marubeni and US grain merchant Gavilon, citing food security concerns.

“Clearly this would be a long, complicated deal from a regulatory approval perspective,” Mark Kelly, CEO of advisory firm MKI Global Partners, wrote in a note, “and the presence of Chinalco on Rio’s shareholder register always complicates this picture further.”

(By Lewis Jackson, Amy Lv, Melanie Burton, Anousha Sakoui and Clara Denina; Editing by Veronica Brown, Tony Munroe and Jamie Freed)

 

Copper’s next shortage is structural, not hype: analyst

Cecilia Jamasmie | December 17, 2025 | 

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Copper cathodes at Gabriela Mistral mine. (Image courtesy of Codelco.)

Copper is heading into a structural deficit from 2026 as demand from electrification accelerates faster than new supply, according to BloombergNEF, with geopolitical intervention now the single biggest force shaping metals markets.

In its December report, Transition Metals Outlook 2025, BloombergNEF says copper faces the most acute pressure among transition metals, driven by rapid growth in data centres, grid expansion and electric-vehicle adoption. Energy-transition demand for copper is set to triple by 2045, pushing the market into persistent deficit unless investment and recycling ramp up.

Kwasi Ampofo, head of metals and mining at BloombergNEF, told MINING.COM the imbalance reflects rising demand colliding with slow project delivery. “Copper, platinum and palladium have experienced very slow capacity addition at a time where demand is growing,” he said, calling them the commodities under the greatest near-term pressure.

Supply constraints are already visible. Disruptions in Chile (Quebrada Blanca, El Teniente), Indonesia (Grasberg) and Peru (Las Bambas, Constancia), paired with slow permitting, have tightened the market. BloombergNEF estimates the copper shortfall could reach 19 million tonnes by 2050 without new mines or significant gains in scrap collection.

Short-term price moves

Prices are up 35% so far this year and heading for their largest gain since 2009. While the copper-shortage debate often blurs short-term price moves with long-term fundamentals, Ampofo said BloombergNEF’s outlook is grounded in structural supply-demand trends. Bringing new supply online this decade will require sustained investment to expand existing projects, streamlined permitting and better recycling systems.

That long-term view is increasingly shared by miners. BloombergNEF notes renewed capital spending and consolidation across producers including Anglo American (LON:AAL), BHP (ASX:BHP), Glencore (LON:GLEN), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), Vale (NYSE:VALE) and Zijin (HKEX:2899). Ampofo said the surge in mergers and acquisitions signals copper’s growing strategic value, a conclusion the firm’s analysis supports.

The others

While copper dominates near-term concerns, the report highlights diverging paths across other metals.

Aluminum supply remains heavily concentrated in China, which produces half the world’s output. A government cap aimed at curbing emissions has left little room to grow, and BNEF says the ceiling’s constraint on supply could persist unless raised. China’s share declines to 37% by 2050 in the Economic Transition Scenario, while India more than doubles production over the next decade.

Graphite demand rises from 2.7 million tonnes in 2025 to 6.7 million tonnes in 2050, driven by its central role in lithium-ion battery anodes. The market is expected to slip into technical deficit in 2032 as secondary supply from retired batteries fails to match the slowdown in primary-supply growth.

Lithium supply, by contrast, continues to grow. Total capacity could hit 4.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent by 2035, up from 1.5 million tonnes in 2025, supported by new South American and African projects, maturing direct-extraction technologies and rising secondary supply. Prices remain low after falling from a 2022 peak of $80,000 per tonne, though recent disruptions and subsidy reductions have triggered a modest recovery.

Manganese supply remains broadly aligned with demand through 2050 thanks to stable ore availability and dominant use in steelmaking, which accounts for 97% of consumption. Short-term risks persist due to logistics challenges in South Africa and Gabon’s planned 2029 export ban.

Cobalt prices have rebounded after the Democratic Republic of Congo imposed a four-month export ban in February, later replaced with a quota system that caps annual exports at 96,600 tonnes for 2026–27, a 50% cut from 2024 levels. Prices climbed 128% from February to October as the market tightened.

China’s dominance

Despite broad investment in critical-minerals supply chains, China retains dominance across most midstream refining, especially in aluminum, graphite, manganese, cobalt, nickel and rare earths. Europe and the US remain heavily exposed in graphite, manganese, nickel and lithium, while Japan and South Korea rely on diversified imports and recycling. 

Geopolitics now underpins many of those strategies. Ampofo said government involvement can unlock capital but also heightens the risk of conflict, and warned that subsidies alone will not resolve supply-chain concentration. Looking ahead, he said price signals in 2026 will be critical, either encouraging new supply or curbing demand through substitution.

The report also underscores the need to decarbonize metals used in clean-energy infrastructure. Steel, aluminum and copper carry the highest embodied emissions, and while solar and wind projects offset those emissions within months of operation, BloombergNEF cautions that slow progress upstream could lengthen the carbon payback period.

 

MMG sees copper losses mount from informal Peru diggers

Bloomberg News | October 17, 2025 

Las Bambas is considered the world’s ninth-largest copper mine with an output of about 400,000 tonnes of the industrial metal per year. (Image courtesy of MMG.)

Chinese-owned mining company MMG Ltd. has raised an estimate for the amount of copper lost to informal digging in an area of its Peruvian concession earmarked as its next open pit.

Miners that MMG deems as illegal have extracted about 90,000 metric tons of copper over the past 15 years from the proposed pit at its Las Bambas operation, according to the latest company disclosures and responses to Bloomberg. That’s up from a prior estimate of 74,000 tons through mid-2024.

While the amount extracted is a sliver of the total resources at Las Bambas, it’s significant because the informal mining is focused on a yet-to-be developed area key to MMG’s investment plans. The company wants to build a third open pit, called Sulfobamba, on the spot where the indigenous Pamputa community is already digging up metal in what they see as artisanal mining.

As the concession holder, MMG has rights to the minerals but still needs to buy Pamputa’s land in order to build the pit. Instead, the community has opted to expand its own copper quarry.

MMG’s data show a third of the extraction there has occurred in the last two years alone as part of a surge in informal mining in poor rural areas of Peru fueled by soaring metal prices. At today’s copper prices, 90,000 tons would be worth about $950 million.

“This was a mining concession granted by the Peruvian state to Las Bambas, but then the state doesn’t protect it,” said Pablo O’Brien, a former mining ministry official and consultant to mining companies facing social conflicts. “So it tarnishes the country’s image in the eyes of international investors.”

Las Bambas has been Peru’s biggest copper supplier in recent months and accounts for almost 2% of the world’s mined production. The operation cost $10 billion to build and remains the single largest investment in Peru’s history. MMG, a unit of China Minmetals Corp., bought the concession from Glencore Plc in 2014 and the facility has been operating since 2016.

MMG has filed more than 100 illegal mining complaints against the Pamputa miners as it seeks access to an area that’s scheduled to start producing by the mid-2030s. The informal miners are defending themselves through lawyers.

Those working the site are artisanal miners whose ancestral claims, land ownership and temporary mining permits counter MMG’s contractual rights, according to Hernán De La Cruz, head of the Federation of Indigenous Mining Communities of Apurímac.

“That there is illegal mining is a fallacy of the Chinese state,” he said.

Losses by informal mining represent about 7% of Sulfobamba’s resources, according to MMG. In the context of Las Bambas’ total resources, the impact isn’t material at less than 1%, the company said, adding that the concession has plenty of potential, with just 10% of the total area explored.

Still, the Pamputa miners have blocked MMG from doing further drilling around the site of the prospective pit as they accelerate the pace of their own extraction. Called Apu Chunta, the quarry is now one of the biggest informal copper mines in the world.

MMG sees the increase in such activity across Peru as having “the potential to affect future large-scale investment,” it said earlier this year.

(By James Attwood and Marcelo Rochabrun)

 

AFC to invite bids to build Key Zambian copper railway link

Bloomberg News | October 17, 2025 | 

The Lobito Atlantic Railway Corridor. Credit: Ivanhoe Mines

The Africa Finance Corp. intends calling for bids from companies to build a new railway connection between Zambia’s copper-rich region and an existing line that runs to the Angolan port of Lobito in coming months.

The tender will be split into three parts, Samaila Zubairu, the lender’s president, said in an interview in Washington this week. Groundbreaking is set for next year, and contracts will be awarded to build rail links in Angola and Zambia, and provide rolling stock and systems, he said.

The Zambian link to Lobito will be the first major railway built in the nation since China financed and helped construct the Tanzania-Zambia line in the 1970s.

The project is unfolding amid intensifying geopolitical competition for access to Africa’s critical minerals. While Washington has backed the Lobito link, China is undertaking a $1.4 billion overhaul of the Tazara line.

The so-called Lobito Corridor project will help ensure that growing copper output from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to reach global markets, while creating local jobs in industries such as agriculture that stand to benefit from improved infrastructure.

Africa’s young population is becoming increasingly impatient with a lack of opportunities, and the continent is in a race to create employment, Zubairu said.

“The globe needs to understand that it is in their best interest to work with us to create jobs,” he said. “Because 400 million people without jobs is not just a risk to Africa, it is a risk to the world.”

(By Matthew Hill)

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Blackrock-backed Peru copper port to expand as China rivalry heats up

Bloomberg News | October 10, 2025 |

Port of Callao in Lima, Peru. Stock image.

Latin America’s top copper-shipping hub — co-owned by BlackRock Inc. — has secured approval for a $700 million expansion as it seeks to retain a key Chinese customer.

The Matarani port in southern Peru won government clearance to invest in new infrastructure to handle rising exports from mines coming online in the world’s No. 3 copper producer, according to operator Terminal Internacional del Sur SA, or Tisur. The upgrade, authorized under a decree this month, forms part of a 30-year extension of Tisur’s concession, allowing it to bypass a competitive tender for the operating rights.

The green-light marks a major boost for a company in which BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners arm acquired a 50% stake in 2023, and positions Matarani to better compete with Chinese-backed ports in Peru. Chinese groups are developing the $1.3 billion Chancay port north of Lima and were awarded the San Juan de Marcona project, 280 miles north of Matarani.

“There’s undoubtedly a geopolitical element in how the big investments in Peruvian ports have been taking place,” Tisur general manager Mauricio Nuñez del Prado said in an interview.

Matarani serves Las Bambas, owned by China’s MMG Ltd., as well as operations run by Freeport-McMoRan Inc., Glencore Plc, and Hudbay Minerals Inc. The port aims to handle copper from projects by Teck Resources Ltd. and Southern Copper Corp. that are expected to start producing later this decade.

Las Bambas, Matarani’s main Chinese client, has indicated it’s evaluating alternatives, including the planned San Juan de Marcona port. “Las Bambas is actively conducting studies around the San Juan port area,” the company said in a presentation earlier this year.

Nuñez del Prado said the Las Bambas contract with Matarani expires in 2029, and the port hopes to renew it by offering competitive terms. “It will always be their prerogative — either for economic or geopolitical reasons — to seek alternatives,” he said.

In a response to questions, Las Bambas said it currently has no plans to change ports but regularly reviews logistics to optimize shipments and mitigate community impacts along Peru’s Southern Road Corridor. “Any future changes would be evaluated against commercial considerations,” it said.

Nuñez del Prado said Matarani’s integrated infrastructure gives it a logistical edge.

“There’s no other installation like this in the world that handles copper from five medium-to-large mines in one place,” he said, citing the combination of truck and rail links that deliver concentrate directly inside the port.

(By Marcelo Rochabrun)

 

Zambia’s record copper production meets a red-hot market

Bloomberg News | October 9, 2025 | 

Konkola Copper Mines smelter. (Photo: Vedanta)

Zambia is poised for record copper production this year, bolstering its standing as a key global supplier just as prices surge and demand is set to grow.

A wave of accidents and disruptions at major mines has squeezed supply and helped drive copper prices up more than 20% this year, and Zambia stands out as one of the few places where output is rising. If it can deliver while rivals stumble, the cash-strapped nation could reap a major windfall.

Zambia plans to seize the moment and expand production. Firms including Barrick Mining Corp., First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Sinomine Resource Group Co. are investing about $10 billion to boost output. President Hakainde Hichilema, up for re-election in August, has made rapid copper growth central to his pitch, targeting output of 3 million tons annually by early next decade. That would be more than triple current levels.

“We believe in audacious goals,” Jito Kayumba, the president’s special assistant for finance and investment, said in an interview in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. “We are determined to get to that milestone.”

The global shift to electrify industry, transport and increase renewable power generation is set to underpin rising copper demand. The metal’s use in grids, batteries and construction makes it strategically critical for the energy transition.

Copper is trading near a record high and was up 2.1% at $10,887.50 a ton as of 9:16 a.m. in London. Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expect further gains as the market moves into a deficit later this decade. The bank raised its 2026 forecast by 5% in an Oct. 6 note. It means producers in Zambia, able to ramp up output, have a rare chance to capitalize on higher prices and lift profits.

The rally stems largely from a string of supply shocks. Earlier this year, a giant copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo flooded and Chile suffered its deadliest mining collapse in decades. Last month, a mud flow at the world’s second-biggest copper mine prompted operator Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to slash its production guidance for this year and next. This week, Teck Resources Ltd. cut output guidance for its flagship copper mine in Chile.

Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest copper producer after neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Bloomberg calculations show miners have announced more than $10 billion of investments that could add roughly 1.2 million tons of annual output in the 2030s, compared with 821,000 tons last year.

The biggest project now under way is a $2 billion expansion of Barrick’s Lumwana mine near the Congolese border — the centerpiece of the gold producer’s move into copper. Once complete in 2028, Barrick expects to recoup its investment in less than two years if current market levels hold. The work — which management said was progressing slightly ahead of schedule when Bloomberg visited in August — is a mammoth endeavor to double annual production by blasting multiple existing pits into a single vast crater.

Relations between copper producers and Zambia’s government have often been uneasy. Privatization in the 1990s revived the industry after years of state mismanagement, but investment slowed in the 2010s amid frequent tax hikes and disputes over revenue.

Under Hichilema’s pro-business administration, investors are once again racing to tap Zambia’s copper riches — helped by historically high prices.

“The level of investment that’s coming in right now, I don’t think that can be matched in the history of Zambia,” First Quantum chief executive officer Tristan Pascall said in an interview. The company, Zambia’s biggest producer, was among the first to buy assets after privatization, along with Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc.

First Quantum commissions $1.25B Zambia copper expansion amid debt push

Still, the government’s 3 million-ton target won’t be met by the investments pledged so far. Several projects face major hurdles — notably an ambitious underground expansion at a mine controlled by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. KoBold Metals Co’s plan to spend more than $2 billion to build the firm’s first mine is also a challenging undertaking.

To get close to the goal, exploration efforts will need to bear fruit too, with global miners including Barrick, Anglo American, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group prospecting across the country.

Hichilema hopes Zambia will surpass 1 million tons of production this year for the first time in a century of commercial mining — a boost to government coffers as it emerges from a bruising debt restructuring. The deal with creditors, including bondholders and China, offers larger payouts if the economy outperforms.

Zambia “seems to be on a remarkable turnaround path,” Barclays analysts Michael Kafe and Andreas Kolbe said in an Oct. 7 note to clients after visiting the country. “Major extraction companies have begun to respond to the business-friendly environment that the Hichilema administration has pursued.”

(By William Clowes and Matthew Hill)

Antofagasta ignites Centinela mine expansion with new pit

Cecilia Jamasmie | October 10, 2025 |

The Encuentro pit will serve as the main ore source for Centinela’s second concentrator. (Image courtesy of Antofagasta.)

Chilean miner Antofagasta (LON: ANTO) has launched the next phase of its copper growth strategy with the first blast at the Encuentro Sulphides pit at its Centinela mine in the country’s north.

The blast marks the start of initial stripping activities that will supply higher-grade sulphide ore for the Centinela second concentrator, which is at the core of Antofagasta’s $4.4 billion expansion project for the mine.

The ore will complement feed from the existing Esperanza South pit, strengthening Centinela’s production profile. Antofagasta aims to boost its copper output by 30% in the medium term thanks to the expansion, optimizing value from Centinela’s 2.6 billion tonnes of ore reserves.

Approved in July 2025 with an estimated $1 billion investment, the Encuentro Sulphides project is expected to complete its stripping phase by 2028. The deposit, included in Antofagasta’s 2024 year-end reserves, holds about 738 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper, along with by-products of 0.17 g/t gold and 0.015% molybdenum. This compares favourably with Centinela’s broader sulphide reserve grade of 0.41% copper.

The Centinela mining complex, located in Chile’s Antofagasta region, was created in 2014 from the merger of the Esperanza and El Tesoro mines. It produces copper concentrates containing gold and silver through milling and flotation, among other processes.

Powering growth

Once operational, the Encuentro Sulphides pit will serve as the main ore source for Centinela’s second concentrator, which will add 95,000 tonnes per day of processing capacity. The concentrator will use high-pressure grinding rolls and other modern processing technologies to boost efficiency and recovery.

Centinela’s second concentrator is expected to begin operations in 2027. At the peak of construction, more than 13,000 people will be employed, supporting local and regional economies. The project will extend Centinela’s operational life by 30 years.

Over its first decade of operation, the facility is projected to produce an average of 170,000 tonnes of copper-equivalent output annually, including about 144,000 tonnes of copper, 130,000 oz of gold, and 3,500 tonnes of molybdenum.

Centinela’s expansion adds a second concentrator and tailings deposit 7 kms away, built in two phases. (Image courtesy of Antofagasta.)

The Second Concentrator project also entails major infrastructure upgrades — enhancing Centinela’s raw seawater pumping system, adding new tailings storage facilities, and improving energy and logistics systems. These developments will reinforce operational reliability and sustainability as Centinela ramps up production.

During pre-stripping, roughly 186 million tonnes of material will be moved over two years. The project will progressively introduce autonomous mining equipment, building on the successful use of autonomous haul trucks at Esperanza Sur. Full autonomy is targeted for January 2026.

Smart, sustainable mining

Centinela is recognized as a global leader in innovation. It pioneered large-scale thickened tailings technology and became the first company in Chile to secure permits for depositing tailings in inactive pits. The project has earned awards from the Chilean Association of Consulting Engineers (2022) and the Antofagasta Industrial Association (2025).

The mine also leads in efficient raw seawater use, autonomous operations, and the supply of 100% renewable electricity. With the Second Concentrator, Centinela will nearly double its processing capacity, create jobs, and open new opportunities for local suppliers — strengthening its economic contribution to the Antofagasta Region.

Copper’s momentum

The first blast at the Encuentro pit comes at a peak moment for copper.  Prices surged to a 16-month high in London this week, extending gains to 23% this year as global supply concerns deepen. 

Analysts have trimmed output forecasts following a series of accidents and disruptions at mines in Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia, prompting expectations of significant supply deficits.

Worries intensified after Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) declared force majeure at its Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia — the world’s second-largest copper operation — after severe flooding halted production. The company confirmed over the weekend that all seven missing workers were found dead following the discovery of five additional bodies.

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China’s "Man in Peru" At Center of Chancay Megaport

Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga (left) and the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, People's Republic of China, Zhnag Xiaohong, sealed their twinning agreement with the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (Municipality of Lima file image)

Published Sep 15, 2025 2:15 PM by Jessica Towhey, InsideSources

 

A Florida Republican is warning the State Department about what he describes as China’s “growing influence” in Peru, and he’s pointing the finger at Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga, whose business interests are at the center of the story.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the Trump administration to pay closer attention to developments in Peru, where Chinese-backed ventures have accelerated in recent years.

“I am writing to raise urgent concerns about China’s growing influence in and around Lima, the capital of Peru, as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s deliberate, wide-ranging campaign to expand its global reach,” Steube wrote.

At the center of the congressman’s concerns is the Chancay megaport, $3.4 billion facility developed by the Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics company COSCO Shipping Ports in association with the Peruvian company Volcan. The port — expected to be one of the largest in South America and reducing shipping times to China by 10 to 20 days —was inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte in November.

It’s also part of a plan announced by China and Brazil to construct more than 1,800 miles of railway tracks through parts of the Amazon rainforest to create the Bioceanic Corridor across the continent. Chancay would be connected by rail to Cusco, a key rail hub of PeruRail. Since 1999, Lopez Aliaga has been a co-shareholder of PeruRail.

All of this development is part of the CCP’s strategic Belt and Road Initiative to create political leverage for the Chinese regime.

Former U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Laura Richardson has previously warned that the port could serve as a “gateway” for Chinese military and intelligence operations in the region.

“Mayor López Aliaga, a man with clear ties to Chinese state-backed enterprises, may soon seek the presidency of a nation whose capital, infrastructure, and minerals are already tethered to Beijing,” Steube wrote.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, recently published a report laying out López Aliaga’s financial entanglements with Chinese firms, describing him as “China’s man in Peru.”

Concerns about Aliaga and PeruRail have risen so high in the Trump administration that there are unconfirmed reports the U.S. Department of Energy rejected a proposed loan to the Peruvian rail company. The U.S. Department of Energy declined to respond to multiple requests for comment about the loan.

Analysts note that China’s interest in Peru is closely tied to copper. Peru is the world’s second-largest producer of the mineral, which is vital for electric vehicles, renewable energy, and electronics manufacturing. China already controls significant copper supplies from Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Between 2020 and 2023, Chinese firms invested more than $1 billion in Peru’s mining sector, according to FDD. One of the country’s largest mines, Minera Las Bambas, is majority-owned by a Chinese state conglomerate.

Steube argued that Washington has been too slow to counter Beijing’s moves in Latin America. “The United States cannot afford to ignore these subnational battlegrounds,” he wrote. “While Washington debates great-power competition in abstract terms, Beijing is executing a concrete playbook in Lima.”

He urged the State Department to monitor Chinese engagement at both the national and local levels in Peru, warning that Beijing’s influence could reshape the balance of power in the hemisphere.

The State Department has not yet issued a public comment in response to Steube’s letter.

Jessica Towhey writes on education and energy policy for InsideSources. This article appears courtesy of DC Journal / InsideSources and is reprinted here with permission for syndication. 

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.