Capstone Copper Announces 2026 Guidance
Capstone bridges strike-clouded Q1 with conservative 2026 outlook as Mantoverde Optimized remains the prize.
The most recent news (February 17, 2026) outlines Capstone’s 2026 operational and financial guidance following the resolution of a labor strike at its flagship Mantoverde operation. The company projects consolidated copper production between 200,000 and 230,000 tonnes. This follows a "record" 2025 where production rose 22% year-over-year. C1 cash costs are guided at $2.45 to $2.75 per payable pound of copper. Capital expenditure for 2026 is heavy, totaling $495 million (sustaining and expansionary), with an additional $225 million in capitalized stripping. Notably, a sanctioning decision for the Santo Domingo project is expected in H2 2026.
The 2026 guidance is a stabilization release rather than a growth catalyst. The production range (200k-230k tonnes) is essentially flat to slightly down compared to the 2025 guidance range (220k-255k tonnes), likely accounting for the 35-day strike at Mantoverde that ended in early February 2026.
- Operational Drag: The strike forced Mantoverde to operate at 55% capacity for over a month. This effectively caps the 2026 growth potential that was expected from the Mantoverde Development Project (MVDP) ramp-up.
- Cost Pressures: Guided C1 costs of $2.45-$2.75/lb are significantly higher than the 2025 guidance of $2.20-$2.50/lb. This suggests that inflationary pressures or the operational inefficiencies from the strike/ramp-up are stickier than anticipated.
- Project Continuity: The confirmation of the Santo Domingo sanctioning timeline (H2 2026) and the ongoing construction of Mantoverde Optimized (MV-O) ensures the long-term growth thesis remains intact, though the "transformational" production jump is now deferred to 2027.
Capstone Copper is a multi-asset copper producer with operations in Chile, the USA, and Mexico. - Flagship Project: Mantoverde (Chile). It recently transitioned from a pure oxide mine to a large-scale sulphide operation (MVDP). The current expansion, Mantoverde Optimized (MV-O), aims to increase throughput to 45,000 tpd. - Growth Pillar: Santo Domingo (Chile). A fully permitted copper-iron-gold project located 35km from Mantoverde, expected to produce 106kt Cu annually in its first seven years.