Antofagasta full-year profits, revenues decline

In the year to the end of December 2022, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 39% to $2.9bn, with operating costs up 10% mainly due to inflation and higher input prices.

Revenues declined 22% on the previous year to $5.9bn, reflecting a 12% fall in copper sales and a 12% drop in realised copper prices.

Pre-tax profit was down 26% on the year to $2.6bn.

Antofagasta said copper production fell 10.4% versus 2021 to 646,200 tonnes, mainly due to a drought.

Chief executive Ivan Arriagada said: "Copper production reflected the expected continuing drought in Chile and the effects of increased input prices, and the pipeline incident at Los Pelambres.

"Looking ahead, the Los Pelambres expansion is expected to be in production during Q2 including the new desalination plant which will significantly alleviate the water constraints that we have experienced over the past 18 months. Also, copper and by-product production is expected to increase over the course of 2023 and we expect cash costs before by-product credits to remain in line with 2022.

"All this is supported by copper's fundamentals which remain strong, with China showing signs of recovery and with the energy transition underpinning the long-term demand for copper."