Antofagasta chairman chips in properties

Denver — A.A. Luksic, chairman of Antofagasta (ANFGF-Q), has contributed several northern Chilean properties to the London-based copper producer from his privately owned investment firm Mineralinvest Establishment. Antofagasta bought a 51% controlling interest in 240 sq. km, situated around known copper districts, for what was called a nominal consideration.

Antofagasta acquired the Tesoro Noreste and Centinela properties and part of the Esperanza claim, all of which are centred around the company’s 61%-owned El Tesoro mine. (Construction at El Tesoro, 90 km south of Calama, is nearly complete, though the US$300-million project has already produced more than 1,000 tonnes of cathode copper.)

In the El Abra district, north of Calama, where Phelps Dodge (PD-N) and state-owned Compania Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) operate the El Abra open-pit mine, Antofagasta picked up the Conchi, Mercedes and Buljulinas concessions through its wholly owned subsidiary, Minprop.

In addition, the company obtained the Buey Muerto property, 30 km east of the Michilla mine. The property contains known oxide resources which could be amenable to heap leaching (the solution would be transported to Michilla for precipitation).

Meanwhile, throughput from the company’s 60%-held Los Pelambres copper mine, 200 km north of Santiago, reached 98,500 tonnes, down slightly from the fourth quarter of last year. Cash costs in the first three months of 2001 were US39.2 per lb. copper, up slightly from the 2000 average of US35.6 per lb. The increase is due to higher stripping costs associated with the current phase of open-pit mining.

Overall, Antofagasta produced 92,000 tonnes of copper, up from 82,300 tonnes in the first quarter of last year. The weighted average cash cost grew to US43.2 per lb. between the two periods.