SANTIAGO, May 9, 2026, 14:04 CLT
- Anglo American has put a $295 million plan for Chile’s El Soldado copper mine into environmental review.
- The filing seeks to keep the mine operating beyond its current 2027 horizon, with processing planned through 2045.
- The move lands as Anglo tries to sharpen its copper-heavy investment case before its planned merger with Teck Resources.
Anglo American has submitted a $295 million plan to Chile’s environmental review system to extend the life of its El Soldado copper mine, a mid-sized operation in the Valparaíso region that the London-listed miner has run since 2002. Diario Financiero reported the filing on Thursday evening, saying the project would extend El Soldado’s life to 2045 through new open-pit phases, the reopening of an underground mine and more tailings infrastructure.
The timing matters. Anglo is trying to prove it can protect and add copper tonnes while selling or separating weaker businesses and preparing to combine with Teck Resources, a deal the companies have pitched as creating a top-five global copper producer. Copper is the metal investors care about most in Anglo’s reshaped portfolio because it is used in power grids, electric vehicles and other clean-energy equipment.
The project, filed as the “Proyecto Desarrollo El Soldado,” would process up to 6 million tonnes of material a year between 2030 and 2045, according to Chilean mining publication Reporte Minero, which cited the environmental file. The plan also includes a tailings classification and thickening plant, reuse of already disturbed areas and water recovery systems. Reporte Minero
El Soldado is not Collahuasi or Los Bronces. It produced 42,605 tonnes of fine copper in concentrate in 2025, Anglo’s Chile website says, and employs about 650 workers and contractors. But the mine has become a test site for Anglo’s technology-heavy approach to extending older copper assets, including bulk sorting, a process that separates rock by copper grade before more costly treatment.
The filing is also a labour and permitting story. Reporte Minero said the construction phase would last about 18 months and require up to 944 workers at peak, while the operating phase would need an average of 1,480 people and a peak of 1,750. The project entered as an Environmental Impact Study, or EIA, the more detailed Chilean review used when a project may affect natural resources, nearby protected areas or air, water and soil quality.
There is a clear risk here: approval is not automatic. Chile’s environmental watchdog filed serious charges against Anglo American Sur over alleged environmental breaches at El Soldado in December 2024, and said at the time the company could face permit revocation, closure or a fine if issues were not addressed. Anglo told Reuters then that it had been working on matters raised by the regulator and was committed to meeting its environmental obligations.
The Chile plan sits beside another recent Anglo project step. Fluor said on May 7 it had been selected to carry out feasibility-study services for Anglo’s Woodsmith mine in North Yorkshire, England, with the undisclosed contract value to be booked in the second quarter of 2026. Woodsmith is a polyhalite project; polyhalite is a natural fertiliser mineral containing several plant nutrients.
“The Woodsmith project has the potential to create a long-term, stable and sustainable naturally occurring source of critical fertilizers for global markets,” Harish Jammula, president of Fluor’s Mining & Metals business, said in the Fluor release. Fluor said construction for tunnelling and shaft sinking was under way and that the project was expected to produce 13 million tonnes a year of polyhalite fertiliser when fully operational. Fluor Newsroom
Anglo’s latest production update said its planned merger with Teck remained on track for an expected September 2026 to March 2027 close, with China antitrust approval the last outstanding regulatory milestone listed by the company. The same update said the sale process for steelmaking coal was progressing and that Anglo continued to work on separating De Beers, its diamond business.
Competitive pressure is not far away. BHP operates the giant Escondida copper mine in Chile and owns 57.5% of it, while Rio Tinto holds 30%; Glencore is Anglo’s equal 44% partner at Collahuasi. These are the peers and partners against which Anglo’s Chile copper story will be measured, especially if permitting delays or cost inflation eat into the economics of older assets such as El Soldado.
Anglo shares ended Friday at 3,849 pence in London, up 0.26%, with a market value of about 41.24 billion pounds, AJ Bell data showed. The stock’s next move may depend less on a single Chilean filing and more on whether Anglo can turn a long list of moving parts — El Soldado, Woodsmith, asset sales and Teck approvals — into a cleaner copper-led company.
