Lundin Group
Lundin Group Vicuña District Presentation
A giant metal district, comprised of giant deposit clusters, is extremely rare.
Giant metal districts occur only when many exceptional and unusual geological processes coincide in one place to produce an extraordinary concentration of metals.
Major mining companies were all built around the control of one or more of the world’s great giant metal districts. They are considered the holy grail of the mining industry and the essential building block of any globally significant mining company. Well known examples of these giant metal districts include Escondida (BHP), Chuquicamata and El Teniente (Codelco); Grasberg (Freeport).
The Lundin Group is in the fortunate position of controlling the Vicuña District – the only giant metal district not already owned by one of the global major mining companies. The projects making up the emerging Vicuña district include Lundin Mining's Caserones mine and Josemaria, Filo's Filo del Sol, and NGEx Minerals' Los Helados and its recent new discovery Lunahuasi.
On the April 2023 release of initial drill results from the Lunahuasi discovery, NGEx President and CEO Wojtek Wodzicki stated: “One of the key messages from the Vicuña presentation that we made a few years ago was that giant metal districts tend to continue to deliver new discoveries. Today's results reinforce that point and I am confident that we are in the very earliest stages of defining the fourth major deposit discovered in the Vicuña district.”
Lundin Group's projects are not only proximal to each other but sit in the same neighbourhood as the Caserones copper mine (Lundin Mining closed its 51% acquisition of majority interest in Caserones in July 2023 and acquired an additional 19% in July 2024 to increase its ownership in the mine to 70%).
At PDAC in March 2024, the Lundin Group Vicuña Exploration Team, including Wojtek Wodzicki, Bob Carmichael, Diego Charchaflie, Patricio Jones, Martin Rode, and Alfredo Vitaller, were awarded the 2024 Thayer Lindsley Award for international discovery of the year. PDAC recognized the team for their groundbreaking discoveries that have built an emerging giant copper-gold-silver district over the past 20 years. The award is a testament to the Lundin Group's conviction, entrepreneurial spirit and technical excellence.
On July 29, 2024, it was announced Lundin Mining and BHP have entered into a definitive agreement with Filo to jointly acquire Filo’s and its flagship Filo del Sol project. Concurrent with the completion of the Filo acquisition, Lundin Mining and BHP will form a 50/50 joint to hold the Filo del Sol project and Lundin Mining’s Josemaria project. The proximity of Filo del Sol and the Josemaria projects allows for the potential of infrastructure to be shared between the projects, with greater economies of scale and increased optionality for staged expansions, as well as the incorporation of future exploration as the district matures.
“This strategic transaction is the key to unlocking the enormous value that the Vicuña District represents,” stated Lundin Mining President & CEO Jack Lundin. “Combined with the Josemaria project, we are now positioned to create a multi-generational mining district with significant synergies and cost savings on a scale that has the potential to become one of the largest of its kind.”
As the world begins to increasingly transition to green energy and a lower carbon future, there is a growing realization that unprecedented amounts of copper, such that can be found in new sources like giant metal districts, will be needed.
