Wedonay.com Report on Mar 6th, Through the Impulsa Mendoza agency, Mendoza Province, Argentina, has initiated the contracting process for a geological baseline study in the northern mining district adjacent to the PSJ project area in the Las Heras Department. This marks the province's first formal step in extending its mining planning beyond the south under a district-based framework.
The process will commence with technical studies aimed at assessing the region's geological potential and structural continuity. This sequence mirrors the model established for the Western Mining District in Malargüe, encompassing regional geological characterization, environmental baseline establishment, and potentially defining exploration blocks and projects based on the results.
The location of the new mining district extends into the belt surrounding the PSJ project, one of the better-studied copper systems in northern Mendoza, which holds a valid Environmental Impact Declaration for exploitation. Its proximity raises questions about the potential continuity of porphyry systems and the extension of the Andean mineralization belt in the area.
This initiative is part of a broader strategy presented by Mendoza Province at PDAC 2026, where the province also introduced financial instruments designed to channel capital towards lower-risk projects, including a closed-end public offering fund currently under review by Argentina's National Securities Commission. Within this framework, the northern mining district becomes the province's next territorial step in mining planning.
In northern Mendoza, mining planning is not solely influenced by geology. A pending legal dimension also constrains any district-scale framework: the conflict surrounding Paramillos and Danone's position in Las Heras. The Paramillos Sur project received its Environmental Impact Declaration in 2000 but has been stalled for over two decades due to litigation related to the surface landowner—Agua Danone de Argentina—refusing to grant a mining easement.
Constructing a mining district in Las Heras requires organizing mining claims, easements, pre-existing rights, and ongoing legal disputes. The experience from Malargüe shows that prior territorial planning can reduce overlapping concessions and future litigation. In northern Mendoza, the legal dimension already exists and influences the design of the mining district.
The northern mining district has now entered its geological baseline phase. Its future viability depends not only on the area's mineral potential but also on the institutional resolution of a dispute that has remained open for over two decades, reflecting the complex interplay between mining rights, surface land ownership, and corporate strategy.
