Antofagasta plc

Last updated

Antofagasta plc
Company type Public limited company
LSE:  ANTO
FTSE 100 Component
ISIN GB0000456144  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
IndustryMining
Founded1888;136 years ago (1888)
Headquarters London, England, UK
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsCopper
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$6,324.5 million (2023) [1]
Increase2.svg US$1,769.3 million (2023) [1]
Decrease2.svg US$1,299.4 million (2023) [1]
Divisions Antofagasta Mining
Antofagasta Transport
Website www.antofagasta.co.uk

Antofagasta plc is a London-based Chilean multinational. It is one of the most important conglomerates of Chile with equity participation in Antofagasta Minerals, the railroad from Antofagasta to Bolivia, Twin Metals in Minnesota and other exploration joint ventures in different parts from the world. Antofagasta is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Contents

History

The Group began life as Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia , [2] a business that was incorporated and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1888, with the objective of operating a railway between Antofagasta, a port on the Pacific Coast of Northern Chile, and La Paz, the capital City of Bolivia. [3]

In 1980, the controlling stake was acquired by the Grupo Luksic, and the two businesses were subsequently integrated under the name Antofagasta Holdings. [3]

During the 1980s, Antofagasta Holdings diversified into other areas such as mining in Michilla, in which it invested in 1983, and mining in the Pelambres, in which it invested in 1986, in addition to telecommunications. [3]

In 1996, Antofagasta Holdings transferred its banking activities and its industrial interests to Quiñenco S.A., another diversified Chilean company also controlled by the Luksic family. [4] This transfer allowed Antofagasta Holdings to concentrate on the development of the Pelambres and the Tesoro mines and establish itself as a low cost copper producer. [3] The shortened name, Antofagasta, was adopted in 1999. [3]

The Los Pelambres mine was first recognized by Willian Burford Braden in 1920. One of the largest copper deposits in the world, production in 2016 was forecasted at 355–365,000 tonnes of copper, 45–55,000 ounces of gold and 8.0–9.0 tonnes of molybdenum. [5]

In 2009, Antofagasta PLC signed an agreement with the Australian company Carbon Energy to develop an underground coal gasification project in Mulpún, in Southern Chile. [6] The project was put on hold in 2013. [7]

In 2015, Antofagasta took control of Twin Metals, a US company involved in a copper and nickel mining project in Northern Minnesota. Under President Barack Obama, the US administration declined to renew the leases for the lands on which the mining project was planned. However, this position was reversed during the Trump Presidency. The mining project commenced a long permitting process, involving significant environmental issues, being located near wilderness area with many lakes and rivers. The project's reversal of fortunes angered environmentalists and focused attention on a connection between a Chilean billionaire and President Trump's family. [8]

In February 2016, Antofagasta signed an agreement with junior explorer Evrim Resources to earn an interest in the Ball Creek property located in British Columbia. Antofagasta can earn a 70% interest in the project by spending US$31 million over a thirteen-year period. [9]

The company sold its idled Michilla mine in Chile for $52m in 2016. [10] The sale included various mining properties but kept some facilities like the sulphuric acid terminal used by mines in Centinela and Antucoya (an oxide deposit near Michilla). [11]

Operations

Antofagasta is one of the major international copper producers with its activities concentrated mainly in Chile where it now operates four copper mines: Los Pelambres, Centinela (previously the Esperanza and Tesoro mines), Antucoya and Zaldivar (50% owned, 50% owned by the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold). [12]

Ownership

The company is 65% owned by the Chilean Luksic family. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antofagasta Region</span> Region of Chile

The Antofagasta Region is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered to the north by Tarapacá, by Atacama to the south, and to the east by Bolivia and Argentina. The region's capital is the port city of Antofagasta; another one of its important cities is Calama. The region's main economic activity is copper mining in its giant inland porphyry copper systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuquicamata</span> Largest open pit mine in the world by volume

Chuquicamata is the largest open pit copper mine in terms of excavated volume in the world. It is located in the north of Chile, just outside Calama, at 2,850 m (9,350 ft) above sea level. It is 215 km (134 mi) northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km (770 mi) north of the capital, Santiago. Flotation and smelting facilities were installed in 1952, and expansion of the refining facilities in 1968 made 500,000 tons annual copper production possible in the late 1970s. Previously part of Anaconda Copper, the mine is now owned and operated by Codelco, a Chilean state enterprise, since the Chilean nationalization of copper in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its depth of 850 metres (2,790 ft) makes it the second deepest open-pit mine in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antofagasta</span> City and Commune in Chile

Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about 1,100 kilometres (700 mi) north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669.

Antonio Andrónico Luksic Abaroa was a Chilean businessman of Croatian and Bolivian origin. He founded the Luksic Group, becoming the richest person in Chile, the fourth in Latin America, and the 132nd in the world, with a net worth in 2005 of US$4.2 billion according to Forbes magazine. The Luksic Group has interests in the mining, financial, industrial, and beverages sectors. Major holdings include, or have included, Banco de Chile, Compañia de Cervecerias Unidas (CCU), and Antofagasta Plc, a UK-listed copper mining company. In Croatia, he was involved in the tourist industry.

Anglo American plc is a British multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, polyhalite and steelmaking coal. The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia</span> Narrow gauge railway line in Chile

The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest railways built to 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge, with a route that climbed from sea level to over 4,500 m (14,764 ft), while handling goods traffic totaling near 2 million tons per annum. It proved that a railway with such a narrow gauge could do the work of a standard gauge railway, and influenced the construction of other railways such as the Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas. It was later converted to 1,000 mmmetre gauge, and still operates today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZCCM Investments Holdings</span> Zambian mining company

ZCCM Investments Holdings is a successor company to Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited, of Zambia.

Xtract Resources plc is a diversified metals and minerals producer based in London, United Kingdom. The company's shares are traded on London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market. Its CEO is Colin Bird. The primary focus of the company is gold and copper exploration and mining. The company's main assets are located in Chile, Mozambique, and South Africa.

Carbon Energy Limited is an Australian global energy technology provider and services company with expertise in unconventional syngas extraction utilising its proprietary Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology. It operates an underground coal gasification pilot plant at Bloodwood Creek, Queensland, Australia. In 2009, Carbon Energy signed an agreement with the Chilean company Antofagasta Minerals to develop an underground coal gasification project in Mulpún, Chile. The Company is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as CNX and is quoted on the OTCQX International Exchange as CNXAY in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chile–Pakistan relations</span> Bilateral relations

Chile–Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Chile. The Embassy of Pakistan in Argentina is concurrent to Chile, likewise, the Embassy of Chile in the United Arab Emirates deals with matters pertaining to Pakistan.

The Reko Diq Mine is a planned mining operation, located near Reko Diq town in Chagai District, Baluchistan, Pakistan. Reko Diq represents one of the largest copper and gold reserves in the world having estimated reserves of 5.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.41% copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5 million oz, and a mining life of at least 40 years.

Iris Balbina Fontbona González is a Chilean mining magnate, media proprietor, billionaire businesswoman, the widow of Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, from whom she inherited Antofagasta PLC. She is the wealthiest person in Chile, the third wealthiest in Latin America, and the ninth wealthiest woman worldwide in 2022 according to Forbes.

In Chile, coal mining is restricted to a few places located in its southern half. Energy originating from coal stands for 11,6% of Chile's electricity consumption. Currently the country is not considered a major producer of coal.

Jean–Paul Luksic Fontbona is a Chilean heir and businessman.

Guillermo Luksic Craig (1956–2013) was a Chilean heir and businessman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Pelambres mine</span>

Los Pelambres mine is a copper mine located in the north-central of Chile in Coquimbo Region. It is one of the largest copper reserves in the world, having estimated reserves of 4.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.65% copper.

Quiñenco S.A is a Chile-based company engaged in the investment in companies active in the industrial and financial sectors. It is one of Chile’s largest business conglomerates, with US$71 billion in assets under management. Founded in 1957 by Andrónico Luksic, Quiñenco is controlled by Chile’s Grupo Luksic.

Caracoles was a silver mining district in what is now Antofagasta Region, Chile. At the time of official discovery in 1870 the district was located in Bolivia. The silver ores of Caracoles were discovered on March 24, 1870, by a Chilean prospecting team led by José Díaz Gana that had departed from the port town of Antofagasta. Subsequently the orescame to be extracted with Chilean capital and miners. It was the last major discovery of the Chilean silver rushes. According to Oreste Plath "some old miners believe that" Caracoles was discovered much earlier, presumably in 1811, by two Aragonese men who were escaping persecution during the independence era. Subsequently, the location of the outcrop is said to have been forgotten. The site of Caracoles evolved rapidly from a series of rudimentary shelts and huts in 1870 to a small hamlet in 1871. Afterwards the settlement continued to grow reaching a population of several thousand inhabitants.

Twin Metals LLC is seeking approval to create and operate a copper sulfide mine near Ely, Minnesota, on Superior National Forest land. There has been significant opposition to the proposed mine, most notably because of its proximity to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, location within a watershed that drains into the BWCA, and the air, water, light and noise pollution and traffic effects of converting a forested area bordering the BWCA into a substantial industrial mining facility. Twin Metals is a subsidiary of the Chilean conglomerate Antofagasta, which is controlled by billionaire Andrónico Luksic. The original lease is a 1966 lease to the International Nickel Corporation.

Sali Hochschild was a German-born Chilean businessman, the founder of Compania Minera y Comercial Sali Hochschild S.A., once one of the largest mining and mineral processing companies in Chile.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Preliminary Results 2023" (PDF). Antofagasta plc. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  2. "Historia". FCAB (in Spanish). 8 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "History". Antofagasta. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  4. "The Lusic fellowship for Croatia". Hks.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  5. Charles Caldwell Hawley (2014). A Kennecott Story. The University of Utah Press. p. 109,111.
  6. "Carbon Energy signs first international development Agreement with Chile's Antofagasta Minerals" (Press release). OilVoice. 4 December 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  7. Hernán Scandizzo (31 December 2016). "Carbón 2.0, otro capítulo de la saga no convencional" [Coal 2.0, another chapter of the non-conventional energy saga] (in Spanish). Rebelion.org . Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  8. "A Plan to Mine the Minnesota Wilderness Hit a Dead End. Then Trump Became President". New York Times. 25 June 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. "Antofagasta Signs Agreement with Evrim Resources for Ball Creek Project". juniorminingnetwork.com. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  10. "Antofagasta sells Chilean mine for $52m" . FT. 28 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  11. "Antofagasta sells idled Michilla copper mine in Chile for US$52M" . Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  12. "Antofagasta creates one of Chile's largest private copper miners". Mining. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  13. Terry Macalister and Charlotte Moore (14 September 2005). "Antofagasta rides the copper frenzy though price falls are on the horizon". Guardian. UK. Retrieved 18 April 2011.