Vicuña Corp, a joint venture of Australia’s BHP and Canada’s Lundin Mining, on Thursday said it was extending the useful life of its Josemaria copper, gold and silver project in Argentina by six years.

It attributed the longer useful life of the mine, now 25 years instead of 19 years previously, to higher levels of exploitable resources.

Vicuña also predicted an ore processing rate at the site, located in Argentina’s northwestern San Juan province, near the Chilean border, at 175,000 metric tons per day.

Argentina’s government is seeking to promote mining in its provinces along the Chilean border, which have so far seen limited development, to boost foreign-currency flows and shore up its economy.

Vicuña cited new studies it presented to provincial authorities this week, in a second update of its environmental impact report during which it also discussed water management measures.

The Josemaria mine is currently in the pre-construction stage and the miner expects production to start in 2030 after submitting a technical report in the first half of 2026, which will determine exact timeframes and projections.

Thursday’s data could help Vicuña’s plans to apply to join Argentina’s Large Investment Incentives Regime (RIGI), promoted by libertarian President Javier Milei’s government to attract investments.

Earlier this year, the deposits at Josemaria and Vicuña’s Filo del Sol mines were estimated to contain 13 million metric tons of measured copper and 25 million tons of inferred copper.

While Argentina has not produced copper since 2018, a sizeable pipeline of projects in the works could propel it to rank among the top 10 producers worldwide.