Codelco and Adani Set Commercial Terms for Chilean Copper Exploration Alliance
Key Facts
Chile’s Codelco said on November 11, 2026, that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Kutch Copper to set the main commercial terms for a potential alliance to explore the Caburkala project. The memorandum establishes a framework for moving into exploration and is not a final agreement to develop the project. Codelco said the project is in the Calama mining district, in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile. Kutch Copper is a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, the parent company of the Adani Group. The group links the project to exploration resources in Chile and its smelting complex in Mundra, India, with the stated aim of supporting long-term access to copper.
The memorandum was signed in London during London Metal Exchange Week 2026, in the presence of Codelco Chairman Bernardo Fontaine, Kutch Copper Director Jeet Adani and Adani Natural Resources Chief Executive Vinay Prakash. The move follows a memorandum of understanding the companies signed in 2025. Codelco said the two companies’ teams reviewed a portfolio of copper projects under the earlier agreement and conducted technical due diligence, including site visits in Chile. After the assessment, Adani selected the Caburkala project and submitted a proposal to proceed with its exploration. The new agreement sets the main commercial terms for the exploration alliance.
According to Codelco, the concept combines Adani’s capital contribution, technology and project execution capabilities with the Chilean company’s geological knowledge and international experience. The company said the combination would allow exploration work to advance by drawing on both parties’ resources. The statement did not specify the investment amount, a timetable for the work or expected project results. It also did not announce a copper supply agreement or a commitment to develop a mine. The announced step remains focused on exploring Caburkala and setting the commercial basis for cooperation.
Codelco views the potential partnership as a way to generate value from its exploration portfolio while protecting the long-term interests of the company and the Chilean state. Its chairman said the process seeks to “generate value from the exploration portfolio, while safeguarding the long-term interests of the institution and the State of Chile.” This places the project within the company’s approach of working with private-sector partners on some exploration activities, while keeping its interests and those of the state among its stated considerations. Codelco had included its 2025 memorandum with Adani to explore three copper projects in northern Chile among its public-private partnerships. The current Caburkala agreement comes within that broader effort to build exploration alliances.
Codelco’s operating performance in 2026 provides further context for the importance of expanding exploration pathways. Its own production reached 564,000 metric tons of fine copper in the first half of the year, down 11% from 634,000 tons in the same period of 2025. The company attributed the decline mainly to operating constraints at the El Teniente mine, along with decreases at Chuquicamata and Ministro Hales. By contrast, it said the average realized copper price rose to 653.2 U.S. cents per pound, compared with 461.7 cents in the first half of 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached $4.648 billion, up 68% year on year, despite lower production.
The link proposed by Adani is intended to connect exploration in Chile with its smelting complex in Mundra, supporting long-term access to copper. Kutch Copper’s smelting and refining facility there has installed capacity of 0.5 million tons a year, and the company says it plans to raise that to 1 million tons a year. This context gives the Caburkala project significance within the group’s effort to link raw-material assets with processing capacity in India, but the statement did not cite future production volumes for the project or any allocation to the complex. For Codelco, the proposed partnership comes as management lists restoring productivity and improving asset performance among its priorities. The company also said safety, cost discipline and more efficient use of capital remain central to its operating approach.