Chile Signs Strategic Minerals Pact as Codelco Output Falls 11%

Four mining states pledged to cooperate on lithium and copper in Santiago, on the same day Codelco published a weak production half.

Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru signed a strategic minerals declaration in Santiago on 28 August 2026. Codelco published first-half results the same day showing copper output down 11%.

Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru signed a joint text on strategic minerals in Santiago on 28 August 2026. The venue was the Hall of Honor at Santiago’s municipal government building.

Organizers billed the event as the first ministerial meeting on strategic minerals and regional integration. It was the first time the four governments met in this specific format.

Daniel Mas, Chile’s minister of economy and mining, signed for the host country. Luis Lucero, Argentina’s mining secretary, and Guillermo Shinno, Peru’s energy and mines minister, signed alongside him.

Bolivia was represented by its vice minister of mining policy, regulation and oversight. That makes three ministers and one vice minister on a text about the region’s most valuable exports.

Chile is the world’s largest copper mining country and Peru sits among the top three. Chile and Argentina are already sizeable lithium producers, while Bolivia holds large undeveloped brine resources.

The strategic minerals declaration is a statement of intent, not a treaty. It creates no quotas, no joint pricing, no shared budget and no delivery obligations.

The four pledged to exchange information and experience on responsible development of critical minerals. They also agreed to push convergent positions in international forums to help market access.

A third pledge covers regulatory, environmental and social best practice. A fourth opens technical cooperation on geology, inspection, mine closure, innovation and workforce training.

The fifth pledge is to encourage responsible investment along the mining value chain. Officials also set up working groups covering suppliers, human capital and institutions.

The text does not touch tax, royalties or permitting, which each country still sets alone. Those are the rules that decide where mining capital actually lands.

Mas told the meeting that demand for these minerals could rise between 400% and 600% within a decade. He tied that to the energy transition and to the power appetite of artificial intelligence.

Lucero noted that mining projects can run for 50 to 70 years. He argued that geology plus regional stability creates an unusual chance to attract capital.

Shinno said the text lets the four position themselves as reliable partners for consumer countries. He added that sovereignty over natural resources is not affected.

Those are ambitions rather than measurable targets. The signed text sets no tonnage, no timetable and no enforcement mechanism.

Codelco, Chile’s Corporación Nacional del Cobre, published first-half 2026 results on 28 August. Own production fell 11% to 564,000 tonnes of fine copper.

The comparable figure a year earlier was 634,000 tonnes. Attributed production, which adds minority stakes in other mines, reached 619,000 tonnes.

Those stakes are 49% of El Abra, 20% of Anglo American Sur and 10% of Quebrada Blanca. They soften the headline decline without reversing it.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, rose 68% to US$4.648 billion. Consolidated profit for the half came in at US$669 million.

The figures cover January to June 2026 and were released on 28 August. Codelco is wholly state-owned, so every swing lands directly on Chile’s public finances.

The divergence is mostly price. Codelco realized 653.2 cents per pound in the first half, against 461.7 cents a year earlier.

Pre-tax profit jumped to US$1.97 billion from US$429 million. Transfers to the Chilean treasury rose 15% to US$933 million.

Costs moved the other way. The C1 direct cash cost rose 6.7% to 231.6 cents per pound as volumes thinned.

The C3 net cathode cost, which adds financing and depreciation, rose 9.9% to 403.3 cents. Spreading fixed costs over fewer tonnes explains most of that increase.

Codelco reported first-quarter EBITDA of US$2.143 billion on 29 May. The half-year total of US$4.648 billion implies a second quarter of similar size.

El Teniente produced 27% less copper than a year earlier. Operating restrictions have applied since a fatal accident at the mine in July 2025.

Chuquicamata fell 22% because of major maintenance in April and May. Ministro Hales dropped 21% on lower ore grades.

Chairman Bernardo Fontaine has said the annual target of 1.33 to 1.36 million tonnes is now hard to reach. Chief executive Jorge Gómez named productivity recovery as his priority.

This is the gap the strategic minerals declaration cannot close. Regional diplomacy does not reopen blocked drawpoints or lift ore grades.

Codelco has framed the second half around recovering productivity rather than a new volume promise. Investors will judge the year on how fast El Teniente returns.

Cochilco, the Chilean Copper Commission, cut its 2026 national forecast on 11 August. It now expects 5.27 million tonnes, down 2.6% from 2025.

The agency blamed an exceptionally weak first half at Codelco, Escondida and Spence. It also cited structural constraints across several other operations.

Cochilco lifted its 2026 average price forecast to US$5.95 per pound. For 2027 it holds US$5.10 per pound and sees output recovering to 5.55 million tonnes.

So price is doing the work that volume is not. The strategic minerals declaration arrives while Chile’s tonnage is still falling.

The four governments named no secretariat and published no follow-up date. The working groups on suppliers, human capital and institutions are the only visible machinery.

The clearest early test of the strategic minerals declaration is coordination in trade forums. Watch whether the four align on tariffs, export rules and buyer negotiations.

On Codelco, watch the El Teniente ramp-up, Rajo Inca and the Quebrada Blanca consolidation. Cochilco’s 2027 recovery case rests on all three delivering.

Watch the treasury line as well. Chile’s fiscal accounts now lean on copper prices staying near current levels.

A declaration of intent costs nothing to sign and nothing to abandon. The measures that matter are tonnes shipped, permits granted and projects financed.