Codelco and Anglo American get competition sign off for Andina-Los Bronces joint mining plan
The Joint Mining Plan between Codelco’s Andina Division and Anglo American’s Los Bronces operation has received the necessary free competition authorisations for its implementation, as required by the agreement signed in September 2025. The reviewing bodies included the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) of the People’s Republic of China, the authority responsible for reviewing mergers and acquisitions from a free competition perspective; the competition authorities of Brazil and South Korea; and the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) of Chile, institutions that evaluated the agreement within the framework of their respective competition regulations.
The agreement between the two companies includes the development of a Joint Mining Plan for the neighbouring Andina and Los Bronces operations, with the goal of jointly exploiting and processing the mining district’s resources through operational coordination that optimises existing capabilities. This initiative will increase the district’s production by approximately 120,000 additional tonnes of fine copper on average annually between 2030 and 2051, freeing up roughly 2.7 million additional tonnes of copper during that period, with lower unit costs and without requiring significant additional investment.
In addition to increasing the district’s production, the plan will generate at least US$5 billion in additional pre-tax value for both companies, resulting from synergies derived from integrated mine planning in one of the world’s most important copper districts.
Codelco’s Chairman of the Board, Máximo Pacheco, highlighted the progress of the regulatory process and the strategic significance of the agreement. “This progress confirms the value of collaboration between leading companies to better develop Chile’s major mining districts. At Codelco, we are driving a growth strategy based on partnerships that allows us to share risks, accelerate project development, and capture greater benefits. The agreement with Anglo American will unlock greater potential in the Andina-Los Bronces district and generate value for decades to come. The decisions we make today in mining have long-term effects, and this project demonstrates how cooperation can translate into more production, greater efficiency, and more value for our country.”
For Chile, this project represents a significant opportunity to generate economic value, enhance sustainability and efficiency in the use of existing resources and infrastructure, and boost copper production, which is essential for the global energy transition. Furthermore, the coordinated development of the district will contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Chilean mining and maximising the potential of one of the largest copper resource endowments on the planet.
As part of the agreement’s implementation, both companies are progressing according to the project timeline, which includes the environmental permitting stages and the establishment of an entity that will coordinate the operation of the Joint Mining Plan. This entity will be responsible for optimising mine planning and the utilisation of processing capacity at both operations. The development of the Andina-Los Bronces district is one of the most significant mining collaboration initiatives in Chile in recent decades. It aims to maximise the value of two adjacent operations through an integrated, long-term vision, contributing to reinforcing the strategic role of Chilean copper globally.
Panel ground interaction between the Los Bronces open pit and the subsidence crater resulting from underground mining at Andina mine has for some time been a focus and a challenge for both mines, especially in geomechanical terms. Last year, Anglo American in Chile told IM on existing operational cooperation: “Currently there is operational coordination between Los Bronces and Andina to work safely in the Andina underground operation and the Los Bronces pit, but not on the same vertical line at the same time. Los Bronces is already using remote equipment such as bulldozers, drills and others, combined with manual operation of mining equipment operated from safe areas, to work safely.”
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