Antofagasta Unveils Major Expansion Plans at Centinela Open Pit Mine

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc. released the company’s annual results for 2018. The report highlights the financial and operational performance of the company during the previous year. In addition to providing guidance for 2019, the report also provides updates on the expansion works at Los Pelambres and Centinela mines.

According to the company, it plans to expand its Centinela mine by building a new concentrator at an investment of approximately $2.7 billion. The company had considered two alternatives- construction of a second concentrator and the expansion of the existing concentrator. A detailed evaluation of the alternatives suggested that the first alternative has the best combination of financial returns and risk profile. The feasibility study of the second concentrator is expected to be completed during 2020.

The company also stated that the first phase of the planned incremental expansion of the flagship Los Pelambres mine has been approved. This phase will raise the annual copper production by 40,000 tonnes in the first full year of expansion. The capital cost of the project is estimated at around $1.3 billion.

The company reported flat revenues of $4,733.1 million in 2018. EBITDA was almost 14% lower. Capital expenditure declined to $873 million during the year. The earnings per share from continuing operations were 51.5 cents was lower when compared with 2017.

Antofagasta guides group production at 750-790,000 tonnes of copper, 240-260,000 ounces of gold and 11,500-12,500 tonnes of molybdenum in 2019. The capital expenditure for the current year is estimated at $1.2 billion.