Have we turned the corner...never know it by the share price Argentina: Full court press at LME Week
It was a big turnout for one of the main base metals dates of the year, LME Week in London
last week. All the major private copper companies working the region sent their CEOs and
bigwigs (Freeport, Teck, Antofagasta, BHP etc), Chile sent both its Mining Minister Aurora
Williams and the Codelco Chairman, Mxmo Pacheco, but arguably, the star turn was on
October 1st and the “Argentina Day” events (12). The new copper/lithium kid on the block sent
a big delegation, including Secretary of Finance (the #3 finances public servant in the country)
Pablo Quirno and Mining Secretary (i.e. minister) Luis Lucero who gave the usual “come invest
with us” type welcome speeches, but the meat of the event came from the provinces. The
Argentina delegation included the governors of five of the key provinces for mining
development in the country: Marcelo Orrego of San Juan, Carlos Sadir of Jujuy, Gustavo Senz
of Salta, Alfredo Cornejo of Mendoza and Ral Jalil from Catamarca, Additionally, Ro Negro was
represented by its Minister of Production.
The five governors and one regional minister took turns to try and make their province sound
better than the other present and the impression they left, collectively, was extremely positive
for mining in the Andean cordillera, from San Juan’s Orrego highlighting the lead position of his
province for mining, to Salta’s Senz claiming his province is now the #1 region for mining in
the whole of Latin America which is....a stretch. Even Mendoza’s Cornejo got in on the act by
pushing the newly delimited Malargue zone in his province, an area that’s been separated for
fast track permits for mining development and would represent a major step forward for a
province that has dragged its heels on mining for decades (due to the “wine lobby”, but that’s
another story).
The cynical among you may point out that Argentina’s delegation was large and popular
because there’s nothing an Argentine public servant loves more than a free plane ticket and
hotel stay in a European capital and to be fair, there’s probably some of that in play. But it’s the
right time to press on Argentina’s claims as the next great frontier for large-scale mining under
Milei and with the RIGI laws now active and companies moving on projects, Argentina Day
turned out to be the centerpiece event of LME Week 2024