Chile’s environmental regulator has approved the Tovaku project, a 46,000-tonne-a-year cathode mine that Codelco needs partners to build as it struggles to fund a $34 billion pipeline.
MoneyTurkey Commodities Desk | 9 November 2026
Key points
- Chile’s Environmental Assessment Service granted the $870 million Tovaku copper project an Environmental Qualification Resolution, its main environmental permit.
- The open-pit mine in the Antofagasta region is planned to produce 46,000 tonnes of copper cathodes a year over a 21-year life.
- Construction is due to start in the second half of 2027 and take three years, putting first output around 2030.
- Copper rebounded on Monday: Comex December copper rose 1.9% to $6.3550 a pound and London three-month copper gained 0.9% to $13,890 a tonne, according to Mining.com.
What happened
Codelco and Sociedad Punta del Cobre (Pucobre) secured the approval for Tovaku, which spans the municipalities of María Elena and Tocopilla in northern Chile. The resolution confirms the project’s environmental viability and lets the partners move toward construction, subject to remaining regulatory requirements, Mining.com reported.
The two companies formed Minera Puntilla to develop and run the mine. Pucobre holds 60% and Codelco 40%. Their partnership dates back to 2009, when Pucobre began drilling, engineering and feasibility work on mining concessions provided by Codelco.
The mine is expected to move an average of 47.5 million tonnes of material a year, peaking at 68.2 million tonnes in its 18th year. Ore will be crushed, acid-cured and leached, then processed by solvent extraction and electrowinning into cathodes. Construction should employ up to 984 people at its peak and operations up to 700.
To cope with one of the world’s driest regions, the plan includes a 193-megawatt solar park with 336,600 panels and a 72.5-kilometre pipeline carrying up to 425 litres of seawater a second from the Tocopilla Thermal Power Plant. Two reverse-osmosis plants will turn it into drinking and industrial water.
Codelco’s funding gap
The approval lands as Codelco looks for outside money. Chairman Bernardo Fontaine told Radio Duna on Monday that the state miner cannot fund its estimated $34 billion investment pipeline from its own resources and that more debt is not its preferred option. He said Codelco is reviewing whether to sell stakes in private companies, with that analysis due to finish in November, and warned that its 2026 target of 1.34 million tonnes is difficult to reach, although the goal stands.
What is moving the price
Copper recovered part of last week’s 2.7% slide on the London Metal Exchange, its steepest weekly fall since March. Shanghai’s most-traded contract rose 0.5% to 107,430 yuan ($16,096) a tonne, and the Yangshan import premium hit a record $230 a tonne as Chinese warehouse stocks fell to their lowest in almost three years, Mining.com reported.
ING strategist Ewa Manthey said the move “does not necessarily mark the end of the correction,” and Citi pointed to Indonesian-led supply growth and muted demand as challenges for next year.
Why it matters
Tovaku shows the partnership route Codelco is leaning on: a smaller partner does the development work on Codelco ground, and Codelco keeps a minority stake without carrying the full bill. With output targets slipping, how fast projects like this reach construction matters for Chile’s supply outlook.
What to watch
- The result of Codelco’s review of stake sales and private financing, due in November
- Remaining permits and financing for Tovaku before the planned construction start in the second half of 2027
- Whether Chinese premiums and stock draws keep supporting copper after last week’s fall
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