Santo Domingo, Chile / Copper and cobalt
View on map
Santo Domingo is a high grade, fully permitted copper–iron ore project in Chile, owned and operated by Capstone Copper.
Development
Copper and cobalt
Capstone Copper
Chile
Royalty rate and type
2% NSR
Balance sheet classification
Royalty Intangible
Key facts
118 tonnes
Average annual production expected to be ~118t of copper, 4.2kt of 65% pellet feed iron ore concentrate
19 years
mine life with extension potential
Water
Santo Domingo will use desalinated water, minimising water stress in an arid environment.
Ecora owns a 2.0% NSR royalty over the Santo Domingo project. Ecora’s royalty area covers the highest copper grade portion of the mine plan which is expected to be mined during the initial six to seven years of production.
Average annual production is expected to be approximately 118Kt of copper and 4.2Kt of 65% pellet feed iron ore concentrate. Total reserves are estimated to be 392Mt at 0.30% copper grade (as per the Capstone Copper Santo Domingo Project Technical Report) with an expected mine life of 19 years.
Capstone Copper has also identified a meaningful cobalt opportunity that has the potential to turn Santo Domingo into one of the world’s largest and lowest cost cobalt producers. Cobalt production over the life of mine is forecast to total 10.4Mlbs per annum, the credits of which reduce the total mine’s C1 cash costs per pound of payable copper to $1.56 on a by-product basis.
In October 2025, Capstone announced the completion of its process to find a joint venture partner for the Santo Domingo copper project with fund entities owned by Orion Resource Partners LP agreeing to acquire a 25% ownership interest in the project. This is a key milestone on the path towards a final investment decision to sanction construction of the project.
A number of other key milestones, including obtaining project finance and completing detailed engineering studies, are expected to be achieved in 2026 as Capstone works towards a project sanctioning decision in H2 2026. At current spot prices the royalty is expected to generate upwards of $35m per annum. Capstone has also commenced a planned 54,700 metre drill programme at Santo Domingo, and the adjacent Estrellita deposit (which is within the Group’s royalty area), aimed at delineating the oxide resource and exploring near-mine sulphides.