---
title: "Anglo American and Codelco Finalize Joint Copper Plan in Chile, Targeting 2.7 Million Extra Tonnes"
description: "Anglo American and Chile's state-owned Codelco have completed a definitive agreement to run their neighboring Los Bronces and Andina copper mines under a single plan — a tie-up the companies say could yield 2.7 million tonnes of additional copper and at least $5 billion in shared value over two decades."
category: "Companies"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies
author: "Kenji Nakamura"
published: 2026-06-24T17:30:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-24T17:30:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/anglo-american-codelco-copper-jv
tags: ["copper", "anglo-american", "codelco", "chile", "mining"]
---
# Anglo American and Codelco Finalize Joint Copper Plan in Chile, Targeting 2.7 Million Extra Tonnes

Anglo American and Chile's state-owned Codelco have completed a definitive agreement to run their neighboring Los Bronces and Andina copper mines under a single plan — a tie-up the companies say could yield 2.7 million tonnes of additional copper and at least $5 billion in shared value over two decades.

Anglo American and Codelco have completed a definitive agreement to jointly develop two of Chile's largest copper mines, the companies [announced on June 24](https://www.angloamerican.com/media/press-releases/2026/24-06-2026). The deal binds the operations of Anglo's Los Bronces mine and Codelco's adjacent Andina mine, high in the Andes north of Santiago, into one combined mining plan.

The two are unusual partners. Anglo American is a London-listed global miner; Codelco is Chile's state-owned producer and, by output, the world's largest copper company. Their mines sit side by side, with ore bodies that effectively cross the property line. Mining them separately wastes rock; coordinating them lets the companies dig where the copper is richest and share haulage, processing and other infrastructure.

## A joint plan, not a merger

This is a joint mine plan, not a merger. Each side keeps ownership of its own mine — Anglo operates Los Bronces through its 50.1%-held subsidiary Anglo American Sur, while Codelco retains Andina — and they coordinate operations and share the upside.

The headline figures come from the companies' own statements: an estimated [2.7 million tonnes of additional copper over a 21-year period](https://www.angloamerican.com/media/press-releases/2026/24-06-2026), averaging about 120,000 tonnes a year of low-cost output, shared equally, with about 15% lower unit costs and minimal extra capital investment. Anglo and Codelco put the pre-tax value created at "at least $5 billion." Combined, the two mines would rank among the [top five copper mines in the world](https://www.angloamerican.com/media/press-releases/2026/24-06-2026) once the additional output is included. New production is expected to start as soon as 2030, subject to environmental permits.

The completion follows a landmark agreement the pair [signed in September 2025](https://www.angloamerican.com/media/press-releases/2025/16-09-2025) and competition clearance secured [earlier this year](https://im-mining.com/2026/03/26/codelco-and-anglo-american-get-competition-sign-off-for-andina-los-bronces-joint-mining-plan/).

## Why copper matters

The copper leaves these mines as **concentrate** — a partly processed material, typically a quarter to a third copper by weight, shipped to smelters to be refined into metal. Demand is the story: copper is the workhorse of electrification, needed in power grids, electric vehicles, wind turbines and the data centers driving the artificial-intelligence buildout. Miners warn of looming shortages, fueling talk of a copper "supercycle" — though such forecasts remain projections, not certainties.

That backdrop explains a wave of dealmaking. Anglo American is reshaping itself around copper after [rejecting BHP's takeover approaches in 2024](https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/11/24/bhp-scraps-anglo-american-copper-mega-merger-after-repeat-failed-bids), shedding diamonds and platinum and advancing a separate merger with Teck Resources. The Codelco plan fits that pivot — and Chile's national ambition to lift copper output toward 6 million tonnes a year by 2030. Anglo Chief Executive Duncan Wanblad called it "one of the most significant copper adjacency opportunities in the world."