The Group began life as
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia, a business that was incorporated and listed on the
London Stock Exchange in 1888, with the objective of operating a railway between
Antofagasta, a port on the Pacific Coast of Northern Chile, and
La Paz, the capital City of
Bolivia. In 1980, the controlling stake was acquired by the
Grupo Luksic, and the two businesses were subsequently integrated under the name
Antofagasta Holdings. Antofagasta Holdings diversified into other areas such as mining in
Michilla, in which it invested in 1983, and mining in
Los Pelambres, in which it invested in 1986, in addition to telecommunications. This transfer allowed Antofagasta Holdings to concentrate on the development of Los Pelambres and the
Tesoro mines and establish itself as a low cost copper producer. In 2009, Antofagasta PLC signed an agreement with the
Australian company
Carbon Energy to develop an underground coal gasification project in
Mulpún, in
Southern Chile. The project was put on hold in 2013. In 2015, Antofagasta took control of Twin Metals, a US company involved in a copper and nickel mining project in Northern
Minnesota. Under President
Barack Obama, the US administration declined to renew the leases for the lands on which the mining project was planned. However, this position was reversed during the
first Trump presidency. The mining project commenced a long permitting process, involving significant environmental issues, being located near wilderness area with many lakes and rivers. The project's reversal of fortunes angered environmentalists and focused attention on a connection between a Chilean billionaire and President Trump's family. In February 2016, Antofagasta signed an agreement with junior explorer Evrim Resources to earn an interest in the
Ball Creek property located in
British Columbia. Antofagasta can earn a 70% interest in the project by spending US$31 million over a thirteen-year period. The company sold its idled
Michilla mine in Chile for $52m in 2016. The sale included various mining properties but kept some facilities like the
sulphuric acid terminal used by mines in
Centinela and
Antucoya (an
oxide deposit near Michilla). In 2022 Antofagasta Minerals withdrew from the
Reko Diq Mine project, a joint venture it had with
Barrick Gold in Pakistan. The withdrawal happened in the context of the
Reko Diq case in which Pakistan paid US$900 million in indeminization to Antofagasta Minerals. Antofagasta Minerals has since stated it aims to focus its operations in
the Americas. ==Operations==