Southern Copper clears El Pilar permitting hurdle
Southern Copper, the mining subsidiary controlled by Grupo México, secured environmental permits on July 23 for its El Pilar copper project in Sonora, Mexico, clearing the way for a greenfield open-pit mine with a revised budget of US$551 million, up from an earlier US$310 million estimate. The deposit holds 317 million tonnes of proven and probable reserves at an average grade of 0.249% copper and sits roughly 45 kilometers from the company's flagship Buenavista mine, allowing shared infrastructure across its Sonora cluster. At full capacity, El Pilar is expected to deliver 36,000 tonnes of copper cathodes annually, equivalent to about 79 million pounds, over a 13-year mine life using solvent extraction and electrowinning.
BHP joins lower-emissions copper supply chain trial
BHP partnered with seven companies on July 23 to launch a demonstration project tracing greenhouse gas emissions from mine to finished cable using a mass balance credit model. Copper concentrate from BHP's Escondida mine in Chile, which has sourced 100% of purchased electricity from renewables since 2022, will be smelted by Mitsubishi Materials and processed into cables by FCM Corporation, Yasaka Electric Wire and Sambo Metals, with finished cables installed at an Amazon Japan logistics facility through Senshu Electric. NTT Circurust and NTT DATA Japan will verify the information transfer process, and the partners said the project will test compliance with ISO 22095 chain-of-custody standards.
Mariana Minerals deploys Spot robot at Utah copper operation
Mariana Minerals began deploying Boston Dynamics' quadruped robot Spot at its Copper One facility near Moab, Utah, on July 23 to automate routine plant inspections and keep workers out of hazardous areas. The company said the implementation supports data collection for high-purity cathode production and environmental monitoring across rugged terrain. Mariana Minerals framed the rollout as part of an "autonomy-first" mining and refining strategy, arguing that industry faces a potential structural copper shortfall approaching ten million tonnes if new capacity fails to materialize quickly enough.
Zambia reaffirms 3 million tonne copper production target
Zambia's Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development said on July 23 it remains on track to produce three million metric tonnes of copper annually by 2031, with Permanent Secretary Hapenga Kabeta outlining a roadmap in which roughly 1.5 million tonnes would come from existing mine expansions and about 1.25 million tonnes from new greenfield projects, with small-scale mining expected to contribute the remainder. Copper output rose from approximately 732,000 tonnes in 2023 to 825,000 tonnes in 2024 and 891,000 tonnes in 2025, supported by fiscal reforms that Kabeta said helped attract roughly US$14 billion in pledged and actualised mining investments and revived previously dormant operations.
Market context and next signals
The four announcements together underscore industry efforts to expand and decarbonize copper supply as electrification-driven demand accelerates and new development becomes harder and more costly. Southern Copper has not published a firm construction start date for El Pilar, with third-party estimates suggesting first output could arrive in 2028, and the company's next quarterly report or investor presentation is expected to provide an updated timetable. BHP had reduced operational greenhouse gas emissions across its operated assets by 36% from its adjusted FY20 baseline as of June 2025 and is working toward net zero operational emissions by 2050.
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