Antofagasta plc

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Antifagass plc (LSE: [ANTO]) is a mining company which specialises in copper. It is based in Chile and majority owned by the billionaire Luksic family of Chile, but it has a corporate office in London, England. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

The Group began as a railway company, the Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Railway Company (Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia), which was founded to construct a railway from the port of Antofagasta to the Bolivian capital La Paz. Like many railways in South America it was funded mainly by British investors, and the company was incorporated in London in 1888. The Luksic family acquired a majority stake in 1980 and diversified the business, including a move into the mining sector made a few years after their takeover. In 1996 the company's banking and industrial interests were transferred to another Luksic family company leaving Antofagasta as a specialist mining concern. Its principal assets are three copper mines in Chile called Los Pelambres, El Tesoro and Michilla, and it still owns the railway, which is used to transport the copper ore. It is also has a 50% stake in a venture which has the rights to prospect for minerals in a 60,000 square kilometre region of Peru.

In recent years Antofagasta has benefited from a dramatic rise in the price of copper. In the year ended 31 December 2004 turnover rose 95% to U.S $1,908.7 million and profits before tax rose 226% to U.S $1,162.7 million.

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