BHP Offers Up to $40 Million for Exploration of Chile’s Anillo Project

Key Facts

Codelco announced on October 26, 2026, that it had signed an exploration agreement with BHP for the Anillo project in Chile, after the contract was signed on October 21 during London Metal Exchange week. The agreement allows BHP to invest up to $40 million in work to assess the project’s mining potential. The cap does not mean an immediate commitment to spend the full amount; Codelco said the company may fund the exploration stages specified in the agreement. The announcement marks the move from an understanding to exploration work after the required approvals in Chile were completed. Codelco said those approvals were completed before the agreement was signed.

Potential work includes reconnaissance campaigns, geophysical and geological studies, and drilling programs, according to Codelco’s statement. These activities are aimed at assessing Anillo’s mining potential, while the company describes the project as being at an early exploration stage. Codelco did not present these steps as a decision to build a mine or begin production; moving the project into development depends on what the assessment work finds. The site has previously been subject to exploration campaigns by Codelco and other parties. The agreement sets out a new program to complete the site assessment, with potential funding of up to $40 million.

Anillo is located in Chile’s northern Antofagasta region, and the exploration property covers 24,000 hectares, according to Codelco. The area provides broad scope for the reconnaissance, studies and drilling enabled by the agreement, but on its own does not establish the existence of an extractable reserve. In 2022, Codelco presented a portfolio of 34 exploration assets to companies interested in assessing partnership potential. The Anillo agreement is part of the company’s approach to attracting partners to its exploration assets. In its statement, Codelco said its mining property portfolio spans 2.3 million hectares.

Jess Farrell, a BHP executive, said, "Meeting growing global demand for copper will require new resources, and exploration will be essential to finding them." She linked the importance of exploration work to the need to find new resources, without implying that Anillo will add confirmed production to the market. Chilean production figures provide context for this interest: the country’s copper mines produced 5.5059 million tonnes in 2024, then 5.3882 million tonnes in 2025, according to Cochilco data. In its own estimates, BHP forecast global copper demand to grow at a compound annual rate of 2.6% through 2035, compared with 1.9% over the 15 years through 2021. It also forecast global demand to rise by about 70% to more than 50 million tonnes a year by 2050.

Codelco sees partnerships as a way to add capital, technology and management standards to its asset portfolio while protecting the long-term interests of the company and the Chilean state. It said BHP’s technical and operational capabilities and infrastructure could support future development if Anillo’s potential is confirmed. The agreement’s structure sets an economic condition for any subsequent move: the 2025 announcement included a promise to partner with Codelco to develop the project if viable, sustainable operations were established. If the project does not proceed, the resulting studies and information will belong to Codelco. The exploration results and economic viability will therefore determine whether the site moves from assessment to development.

In market trading, EL7 data showed BHP shares closing at $77.85 on October 23, 2026, two days after the contract was signed and before the agreement was publicly announced on October 26. The data showed copper closing at 6.5075 on October 23 and 6.5388 on October 26, according to the price unit recorded for the HGUSD instrument in EL7. These figures do not isolate the agreement’s effect from the other factors moving the share price or copper. Separately, in an operational update, BHP said its copper production fell in the first quarter, citing a planned decline in ore grades and scheduled maintenance, along with temporary disruptions. Those disruptions included severe weather in Chile, safety-related stoppages and a conveyor outage at Carapateena.