Glencore plc receives RIGI approval for US$4B MARA copper plan
Argentina's incentive regime offers 30 years of stability as Glencore advances Alumbrera's first-production target to the second half of 2027.
Ines Halvorsen
By Oct. 2, Argentina had admitted a proposed US$4.0 billion MARA copper investment to its RIGI incentive regime, Glencore plc LONGLEN said in a release that day. Glencore's Aug. 18, 2025 release put its current capital investment estimate for Agua Rica at US$3.5 billion to US$4.5 billion. It said its RIGI application used US$4.0 billion, the midpoint of that range.
Argentina's economy ministry says admitted investments receive 30 years of stability for covered incentives from enrollment.
The approval gives MARA access to a defined tax and customs framework as Glencore prepares the Alumbrera operation for a restart. The Oct. 2 release gave no construction or first-ore date for MARA. It brought expected first production at Alumbrera forward to the second half of 2027 from the first half of 2028.
Glencore plans to process ore from Agua Rica at the Alumbrera concentrator, about 35 kilometres from the pit in Catamarca province. It estimates that MARA could average more than 200,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate annually over its first decade of operation. That is a production estimate for a proposed mine, with no first-production year attached in Friday's announcement.
The company says reviving Alumbrera will keep its concentrator, transport links and workforce available before MARA's first ore. Close to 2,000 people were working on the restart as of Glencore's Oct. 2 announcement, most of them from Catamarca. Glencore says the restart is designed to reduce ramp-up risk at the concentrator and in downstream logistics.
“The RIGI provides the fiscal and regulatory certainty needed to commit capital of this scale, and we thank the national authorities and the province of Catamarca for their constructive engagement throughout the process,” Glencore Argentina chief executive Martín Pérez de Solay said in the release.
Tax Stability Runs for 30 Years
Under the economy ministry's RIGI terms, admitted project vehicles face a fixed 25 per cent corporate income tax rate and can use accelerated depreciation. They can also settle VAT on eligible equipment and infrastructure with fiscal credit certificates. The regime exempts eligible imports from customs duties and removes export duties from the third year of admission under its general rules.
Glencore did not publish a revised project valuation or a dollar estimate of the savings on Oct. 2. The ministry's rules also require qualifying plans to make payments to local suppliers equal to at least 20 per cent of the investment.
Agua Rica's measured and indicated resource is about 1.2 billion tonnes at an average copper grade of 0.47 per cent, according to the Oct. 2 company release. Glencore intends to use Alumbrera's existing processing facilities for Agua Rica ore. That shared-plant design makes the restart an operational step before MARA's first ore.
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The next dated operating milestone is Alumbrera's first production, which Glencore now expects in the second half of 2027. The Oct. 2 release did not set a MARA construction or first-ore date.
