Hitachi Construction Machinery adds second Chile mining fleet at Mantoverde
In January 2025, Hitachi Construction Machinery (set to become LANDCROS in April 2027) announced that it was establishing Hitachi Construction Machinery Latin America SpA as of April 1, 2025, to oversee current and expand its business in Latin America – with a headquarters in Santiago, Chile. The move was part of a laser focus to increase mining equipment sales in the region – which had previously been handled by Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas in Newman, Georgia and before that through a joint venture with Deere & Company that was dissolved in 2022.
The company’s ambitions and roadmap in Latin America were outlined in an article published by HCM in June 2026 based on a discussion with Tetsuya Kitagawa, President and CEO of Hitachi Construction Machinery Latin America. He stated: “Our strategic direction is to operate as a solution provider, with the aim of becoming the best partner for our customers. At the same time, we are working to foster a corporate culture that places a strong emphasis on safety and compliance. Building on a robust operating platform and a strong corporate culture, we are targeting the achievement of ¥150 billion in revenue in fiscal 2030, as set out in our Medium-term Management Plan.”
He added: “There are several reasons for locating our headquarters in Chile. From the perspectives of business practices and tax systems, it offers a favourable environment for operations, and it is also regarded as a stable and secure location. In addition, Chile has a well-established base of professional education in both mining and construction, providing access to a deep pool of highly skilled, immediately deployable talent. Furthermore, many customers’ regional headquarters for Latin America are located in Chile, and demand is strong for dump trucks, which are central to our expansion efforts.”
He said that in Latin America, HCM is placing a particular emphasis on the Mining business. “To ensure disciplined execution, we have, since the company’s establishment, conducted direct visits and interviews with 40 mining customers to understand their needs first hand. Customers have welcomed our entry into the Latin American market, noting that it has created a new choice for them. Among our products, hydraulic excavators designed for high‑altitude operation have been especially well received, giving us confidence to use them as a cornerstone of our market expansion efforts. At the same time, dump trucks present a more challenging competitive landscape, where product differentiation is not always straightforward. To achieve a significant increase in unit sales, it will be essential to strengthen service capabilities, including parts supply.”
Fundamentally, the fact is that in large rigid trucks – Caterpillar and Komatsu still dominate the market in South America – so for strategic and competitive reasons it is positive for major mine owner operators and contractors there to have more options – and that includes Hitachi and Liebherr but also Chinese OEMs like XCMG and SANY. Wide body trucks are also starting to make an impact, both conventional diesel as well as battery electric and hybrid via manufacturers like Tonly and LGMG.
In fiscal 2026, HCM says its primary focus will be on increasing sales of base machines, while at the same time laying the groundwork for future growth in the parts and service business. Specifically, it will prepare parts warehouses and training and demonstration centres scheduled to open from fiscal 2027 onward, and establish bases for supplying remanufactured parts, primarily in Argentina and Chile.
“Through these initiatives, we will strengthen parts supply and support systems for our customers. In addition to our products, we will take a total solutions approach by leveraging the products and services of our group companies – Bradken, H‑E Parts, and Wenco – working together to improve customer productivity and safety while reducing environmental impact. In terms of market share targets, we aim to increase our share of mining excavators from 26% in 2024 to 30% by 2028, and our share of dump trucks from 4% to 18%.”
Kitagawa added: “Although we are a late entrant in the Latin American market, our core strength lies in the quality of our products. Recently, reflecting strong customer evaluations, we have secured a series of large mining equipment orders in Peru and Chile – markets where order volumes had previously been limited. To sustain and build on this strength, we intend to continuously reinforce our value chain business. We recognise that there are areas we cannot address on our own, and we will therefore actively promote partnerships with external stakeholders. By listening carefully to the voices of our customers and operating as a solution provider that puts the LANDCROS philosophy into practice, we aim to achieve significant growth in the Latin American business.”
In the wider region, ZAMine Brasil, a joint venture with Marubeni, began operations in March 2025 and the same year saw deployment of EH4000AC-3 mining trucks and an EX2600-7 mining excavator at Anglo American’s Minas Rio iron ore mining operation in the state of Minas Gerais with R&D Mineração & Construção Ltda.
In Peru, Hitachi already had a major foothold with its large mining excavators at operations like Yanacocha, Mina Justa and Antamina – and is soon to commission its first ever EX8000 models in Latin America with two units at a Peruvian copper mine. There is also a lot of potential for its mining trucks in Peru as well.
Elsewhere a sales and service location in Argentina opened in April 2026 and one is due to open in Mexico in FY2026. Finally, a new parts warehouse that will support the Latin America business will open in Miami in April 2027.
HCM investments in Chile continue – a new training and demo centre is set to open in Santiago; and a new rebuilds and refurb location in Antofagasta – both in FY2027 (ie by end March 2028). There was some progress in 2024, when Thiess was awarded a mining contract at Antofagasta Minerals’ Centinela copper mine – specifically at the Esperanza Sur pit. Thiess entered a mining equipment lease agreement with Hitachi dealer ZAMine Service Chile covering the supply of five EH4000AC-3 trucks and one EX5600-7 hydraulic excavator, which are still in operation today.
HCM has now also added a second customer in Chile – Capstone Copper – which is in the process of deploying a fleet at the Mantoverde copper-gold mine consisting of one EX5600-7 hydraulic excavator and six EH4000AC-3 trucks. Capstone Copper acquired the fleet directly from HCM, with ZAMine Service Chile to provide service and parts.
Mantoverde is an open-pit copper-gold mine located in the Atacama region of Chile in close proximity to the Santo Domingo project and the Sierra Norte deposit. It is 70% owned by Capstone and 30% owned by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. In 2024, the operation added a 32,000 t/d high grade sulphide processing line through the Mantoverde Development Project (MVDP). The site is now expanding via the Mantoverde Optimised Project (MV-O) which is currently under construction and is slated for completion in Q3 2026, with expanded sulphide throughput ramping up to 45,000 t/d by early 2027.
Hitachi has some advantages in its breadth of offering. It is promoting the development of autonomous operations, remote and semi-automated solutions that utilise sensing technology, and Autonomous Haulage Systems (AHS) for mining use. This includes its own well proven AHS offering plus it has just announced a global strategic partnership with OEM-agnostic autonomy major Pronto aimed at further advancing open mine automation solutions.
Looking at electrification, HCM continues expand our its line-up of electric mining machinery and, for fully electric and hybrid dump trucks, is looking to accelerate demonstrations and expand sales. Its complete line-up of excavators up to the EX8000 is already available with cable-electric power. For trucks there is also a lot of trolley potential in Latin America – indicated by the trolley projects at Collahuasi and Los Pelambres – so HCM’s extensive experience with the EH4000 Battery truck that is successfully operating under trolley in Zambia will prove valuable. A hybrid EH4000 project is underway and set to begin testing at Exxaro Grootegeluk in South Africa in 2027.
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