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Carbonatos Profundos (DCP) is a deep gold-silver ore body beneath the existing Gualcamayo mine in San Juan province, held through the local vehicle Minas Argentinas SA Sucursal Dedicada RIGI I – Nuevo Gualcamayo (MASA-SD). RIGI adhesion converts the project into a VPU (vehículo de proyecto único) entitled to the 30-year fiscal/customs stability package created by Law 27.742 (see 2024-07-08-argentina-rigi-large-investment-incentive-regime): customs-duty exemption on capital-goods/input imports (Art. 190), a reduced corporate tax rate, accelerated depreciation, and phased FX-repatriation relief.
The declared investment (USD 519.6M in computable assets) triggers the regime's standard compliance clock: MASA-SD must accredit 40% of the minimum investment within the first two years from notification, and the full minimum by 31 December 2028 (Resolución 6/2026, Arts. 3-4). The resolution also approves MASA-SD's duty-free import list (Art. 5) and its acceptance of RIGI Panel dispute-resolution mechanisms (Art. 6).
Gualcamayo itself has changed hands twice recently: Yamana Gold sold it to Colombia's Mineros S.A. in 2018, and Mineros sold 100% of Minas Argentinas SA to the US-based Eris LLC in September 2023 for a nominal USD 4M plus assumption of MASA's existing obligations — a distressed-asset entry that RIGI's stability guarantee now underwrites with a half-billion-dollar expansion investment.
(McEwen/Rio Tinto, greenfield copper) or Galán's Hombre Muerto Oeste (greenfield lithium), this is RIGI capital extending an operating asset's life — a template other mid-life Argentine mines may follow to de-risk brownfield expansion capex.
pipeline so far dominated by lithium and copper approvals, broadening the sectoral read on how much of Argentina's ~USD 15-20bn RIGI-approved pipeline is precious-metals versus battery/energy-transition materials.
qualifying investment on top of a USD 4M acquisition price will be a test of whether RIGI stability alone is sufficient to attract financing for non-major-mining-company sponsors.
commitment, or does the 40%-in-two-years threshold slip?
water or tailings infrastructure at the existing Gualcamayo site, and does San Juan provincial permitting keep pace with the federal RIGI clock?
this the terminal investment under the current mine plan?