Public company | |
Traded as | : |
Industry | Mining |
Founded | 1888 |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom Santiago, Chile |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Jean-Paul Luksic Fontbona (Chairman of the Board) Ivan Arriagada (CEO) |
Products | Copper |
Revenue | US$3,621.7 million (2016) |
US$947.0 million (2016) | |
Profit | US$214.3 million (2016) |
Divisions | Antofagasta Mining Antofagasta Transport |
Website | Antofagasta.co.uk |
Antofagasta plc is a Chilean business that operates in various sectors of the economy. 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 and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Group began life as Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia, a business that was incorporated and listed on the 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.
In 1980, a majority the shares was acquired by the Grupo Luksic and the two businesses were subsequently integrated under the name Antofagasta Holdings.
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.
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. 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. The shortened name, Antofagasta, was adopted in 1999.
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.
In 2009, Antofagasta PLC signed an agreement with the Australiaan company Carbon Energy to develop an underground coal gasification project in Mulpún, in Southern Chile. The project was put on hold in 2013.