Glencore wins MARA investment approval as Alumbrera restart moves ahead

Nearly 2,000 people are already working on the restart of Argentina’s Alumbrera mine, most of them residents of Catamarca province. Their work also has a role in Glencore’s next copper development: preparing facilities and skills for the Minera Agua Rica–Alumbrera project, known as MARA. That project has now secured approval under Argentina’s Incentive Regime for Large Investments, or RIGI, according to Mining Technology.

The approval comes as Glencore advances the Alumbrera restart. First production is now expected in the second half of 2027, earlier than the company’s previous target of the first half of 2028. That timetable applies to Alumbrera, rather than the start of production from MARA. The two operations are linked by Glencore’s plan to use the Alumbrera facilities to process ore from the Agua Rica deposit.

An existing mine prepares the way

For Glencore, restarting Alumbrera is about more than bringing a mine back into production. The company says it will help reduce the risks of getting MARA’s processing and transport systems running smoothly. It is also intended to retain a skilled workforce before the first MARA ore arrives and keep important infrastructure in operation. Together, those tasks give the restart a supporting role in the larger development.

At the centre of that plan is the concentrator, the plant that separates valuable minerals from mined ore. Agua Rica lies 35 kilometres from the Alumbrera facilities where MARA intends to process its ore. Glencore expects infrastructure eventually to be shared between Alumbrera and MARA, with the potential for more efficient operations. The company presents those efficiencies as a possibility, rather than a guaranteed outcome.

Investment certainty and copper scale

Glencore Argentina chief executive Martín Pérez de Solay described the RIGI decision as an important step for MARA and a sign of confidence in Argentina’s long-term investment framework. He said the regime offers the tax and regulatory certainty needed for a capital commitment of this scale. He also thanked national authorities and Catamarca’s provincial government for their engagement during the approval process.

Pérez de Solay said Argentina is a key pillar of Glencore’s copper growth, with MARA, the Alumbrera restart and plans for El Pachón supporting that role.

The resource behind MARA is substantial. Agua Rica has estimated measured and indicated resources—ore assessed at those levels of geological confidence—of about 1.2 billion tonnes. Average grades are 0.47% copper, 0.2 grams of gold per tonne, 3.4 grams of silver per tonne and 0.03% molybdenum. These figures describe the deposit’s estimated mineral content, not annual production.

Glencore says MARA could produce an average of more than 200,000 tonnes of copper a year in concentrate, the mineral-rich product made by the processing plant, during its first decade of operation. The next milestone to watch is Alumbrera’s targeted return to production in the second half of 2027, alongside preparations to keep its workforce, processing facilities and logistics ready for MARA.