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Los Azules is a large, undeveloped porphyry copper deposit in San Juan province, held through the local vehicle Andes Corporación Minera SA (ACM), majority-controlled by McEwen Copper Inc. — itself majority-owned by McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) with Rio Tinto's Nuton technology unit and Stellantis holding minority stakes via prior earn-in/strategic-investment rounds. RIGI adhesion converts the project from a standard mining-code permit holder into a VPU (vehículo de proyecto único) entitled to the full 30-year stability package created by Law 27.742 (see 2024-07-08-argentina-rigi-large-investment-incentive-regime): customs-duty exemption on imported capital goods/inputs, a 25% corporate tax rate (vs. 35% standard), accelerated depreciation, and the phased FX-repatriation schedule (20%/40%/100% of export proceeds free of surrender requirements in years 1/2/3+).
The declared investment (USD 2.672bn total, USD 2.35bn computable) is staged: USD 33.5M in year one, USD 382.3M in year two, with the regime's 40%-within-two-years / 100%-by-2027-12-31 compliance clock now running from the 25 September 2025 accession date.
undeveloped copper deposits outside China-aligned or state-captured jurisdictions; RIGI's fiscal lock-in materially de-risks the capex decision relative to Chile (state royalty regime) or Peru (permitting + social-license friction). A Western-aligned copper project of this scale reaching construction FID matters directly for the West's copper-supply gap through the 2030s energy-transition buildout.
a major new copper source without full-scale M&A exposure — consistent with Rio's broader pattern (see also its Rincón lithium RIGI approval) of using RIGI as a low-risk entry vehicle into Argentine critical-minerals assets.
this is the second of Argentina's ~USD 15.7bn in RIGI-approved projects (as of mid-2025) to reach the mining sector specifically — a leading indicator for whether the regime is converting its USD 33.9bn application pipeline into actual FID-stage capital.
schedule, or does financing (equity raise vs. further strategic earn-ins) slip the timeline?
additional Rio Tinto stake increase) now that RIGI stability is locked in, or does the project stay a minority-stake vehicle for Rio Tinto optionality rather than full ownership?
with the federal RIGI stability guarantee if local opposition emerges, as it has for other Andean copper/lithium projects?