Antofagasta sees “good opportunities” to expand outside of Chile as the hunt for new copper deposits heats up along with global demand for the wiring metal crucial to the transition away from fossil fuels.
While the London-listed firm remains squarely focused on developing existing assets, it has small teams in Canada, the US and Peru looking at early-stage opportunities, CEO IvanArriagada said in an interview Wednesday in Santiago. Options include associations with junior companies and acquiring land rights.
The company controlled by Chile’s richest family currently produces all its copper in Chile, where efforts to raise taxes and draft a new constitution have seen some companies hold off on investment decisions.
Antofagasta is looking for greater fiscal certainty, among other factors, before proceeding with a $3.7 billion investment at one its mines in Chile.
“We very much want to see Antofagasta as a company that can have a footprint which is more global — not because we don’t like the base we have here, which is great and we continue to grow,” Arriagada said. “There are good opportunities outside as well we want to look at.”
So far, Antofagasta’s foray outside of Chile has been rocky. It withdrew from a venture in Pakistan after authorities denied a license to develop a huge copper and gold deposit, sparking a lengthy legal dispute. Then last year, the Biden administration canceled the company’s rights to mine copper, nickel and cobalt in Minnesota. Arriagada hopes a push by the US to source critical minerals locally will help its cause in Minnesota.
As new copper deposits become harder to develop and demand accelerates amid the clean-energy transition, major producers like BHP Group and Glencore are turning to acquisitions for growth.
Amid the pickup in deal-making buzz in the industry, Antofagasta remains open to opportunities that compare favorably to organic growth possibilities, Arriagada said.
For the time being, his focus is on bringing on a desalination plant by the end of May to enable processing at the company’s biggest mine, Los Pelambres, to return to full throughput.
Despite a quarter-on-quarter slump in output, Antofagasta is on track to meet annual guidance. Depending on how projects proceed, the company could lift annual output to 900 000 metric tons by 2026 or 2027 from 646 200 last year, he said. 