Antofagasta Plc
Antofagasta Plc
Full text is available to Level 2 subscribers only
Subscribe to Mining Business Media
Full access to Mining Business Media's unique blend of global mining sector news and commentary is available by subscription only.
$A275.00 per year*
(*up to 10 users)
GST included in Australia
Direct debit/cheque/credit card:
Click here
Subscription inquiries, email subscribe@miningbusiness.net or call 61+413 772 044.
Related Content
The world's biggest gold producer Barrick Gold has posted a net Sept 2015 qtr loss of $US264M as it booked a $455M impairment charge related primarily to an accounting reclassification of its Zaldivar Copper Mine in Chile as "held-for-sale," after agreeing to sell 50% of it to copper miner Antofagasta for $1B, Reuters reports.
Debt reduced to $11.2B from $13.1B at the start of the year.
Along with a $264M Q3 loss, big gold miner Barrick Gold has cut its debt by $2B since the start of the year.
Operations resumed at Antofagasta’s flagship Los Pelambres copper mine and Codelco’s Andina complex after brief stoppages caused by the 8.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile’s Coquimbo region on Wednesday.
Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Pan Pacific Copper mines were unaffected by the quake, Bloomberg reported. Authorities say 11 people died and up to 1M evacuated their homes in the tremor, the largest to hit Chile since 2010.
The $US947.3M end of June 2015 half (H1 2015) sale of its water division leaves Chilean miner Antofagasta nicely cash up, but with its after tax profit from continuing operations down to $179.5M from H1 2014’s $558.2M after lower production from its copper-led major commodities.
Revenue fell 31.4% to $1.78B, reflecting a 17.8% fall in realised copper prices and lower by-product revenues, with copper production down 12.9% to 303,400t.
Major commodities production slide pushes Chile miner Antofagasta’s H1 2015 net profit down $380M to $180M
Heavy rain and winds that hit the Chilean coastline at the weekend forced Codelco to suspend operations at its 340,000tpa Chuquicamata mine and temporarily pause its Radomiro Tomic mine. Codelco’s Salvador and Ministro Hales mines are already affected by industrial action.
Rival miner Antofagasta says all its mines are operating normally. Reuters reports other mine operators could not be reached for comment.
Thiess has broken back into the Goldfields region of Western Australia with the award of a $A160M turnkey mining services contract by BHP Billiton’s Nickel West business at the Rocky’s Reward openpit nickel mine.
Antofagasta is set to take over operational control of the Zaldivar openpit heap leach mine in the Andean Precordillera after reaching definitive agreement with 100% owner Barrick Gold to acquire 50% of the project for $US1.005B.
Barrick has ended a highly competitive auction process by selling a 50% interest in its Zaldívar copper mine in Chile to Antofagasta for $US1.005B cash.
Co-president Kelvin Dushinsky says the deal strengthens Barrick’s balance sheet and forms a new collaborative partnership with a company that has an outstanding track record of building and operating mines in Chile.
Antofagasta has signed a new $US6M earn-in agreement with West Australian explorer Encounter to earn 70% of the Lookout Rocks copper prospect, covering untested exploration ground at its Yeneena project.
The deal represents a change of focus by copper giant Antofagasta, relinquishing its existing earn –in agreement on the advanced BM1 and BM7 projects in Yeneena’s south.