Chile’s state copper producer Codelco has brought in India’s Adani Group to explore the Kaburkaala copper project in the Calama copper belt of the Antofagasta region. Kutch Copper Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, signed a memorandum of understanding setting out the key terms of a strategic exploration partnership, announced on November 12. The signing took place at LME Week 2026 in London in the presence of Jeet Adani, director of Kutch Copper, Vinay Prakash, chief executive of Adani Natural Resources, and Bernardo Fontaine, chairman of Codelco.
Under the proposed arrangement, Adani contributes capital, technology-led exploration capability and large-scale project execution expertise, and will finance the exploration work, according to Codelco’s statement reported by Reuters. Codelco contributes its geological knowledge of the district and its international mining experience. The agreement follows an earlier memorandum signed in 2025 under which the two companies evaluated several Codelco copper projects through technical due diligence and site visits before Adani selected Kaburkaala.
For Adani, the logic is vertical integration. Kutch Copper is developing a large single-location custom copper smelter complex at Mundra in Gujarat, and Kaburkaala offers a potential long-term concentrate supply for it. Jeet Adani described the partnership as a long-term investment in India’s future and a step toward supply chain resilience for renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure and technology industries.
For Codelco, the deal is one of a series. Fontaine said the memorandum shows Codelco’s ability to attract world-class partners and create value from its exploration portfolio while sharing risk. In October, Codelco signed an exploration agreement with BHP for the Anillo project in Antofagasta, under which BHP may invest up to $40 million in studies, surveys and drilling. Neither company has disclosed a resource estimate, exploration budget or timeline for Kaburkaala, so the pact is an option on future supply rather than supply itself.