REG - Antofagasta PLC - Chairman's Comments at 2026 Annual General Meeting

AntofagastaAnnouncement

07/05/2026 10:30

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RNS Number : 4169D  Antofagasta PLC  07 May 2026

 

 

CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS AT THE 2026 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Antofagasta plc (the "Company") hereby releases the script to be used by the
Chairman, Jean-Paul Luksic at the Company's Annual General Meeting, which will
be held at 10:00 am (UK) today.

 

Good morning and welcome to Antofagasta plc's Annual General Meeting. It is a
pleasure to be with you once again, and I can confirm that we have a quorum
present.

We have all of the Board here today, along with our CEO, Iván Arriagada, and
members of Iván's executive team. Photos and short biographies of each of our
Directors, including their Board and Committee roles, are set out on pages 18
to 24 of the Notice of Meeting.

I will begin with a few reflections on our performance in 2025. It was a year
of strong delivery, including operations and projects, and record financial
results.

Iván will then provide a more detailed update on the business, with a
particular focus on our construction projects, before we move to the formal
business of the meeting and open the floor to your questions.

Safety performance

Let me start with safety, which remains our highest priority.

I am pleased to report that last year was another fatality-free year for the
Group. That means we have had close to 5 years without a fatal accident in the
Group. This is an achievement that we will never take for granted.

Our performance against our safety KPIs continued to demonstrate strong
results in 2025, which has been the result of our long-standing safety-first
culture, which is built on visible leadership, accountability, and continuous
improvement.

Copper: a strategic material

Turning to copper, its role in the global economy continues to strengthen.

Copper is essential for electrification, energy security and the development
of the digital economy.

From power grids and electric vehicles, to the increasing adoption of emerging
technologies such as artificial intelligence and data centres - demand for
copper is being driven by powerful structural trends.

At the same time, global copper supply remains constrained. Declining ore
grades, water scarcity and increasingly complex permitting processes continue
to limit the development of new capacity.

Against this backdrop, copper prices reached record levels during 2025,
reinforcing our strategic focus as a pure-play copper producer.

2025 performance

Reflecting on our performance, 2025 was a year of strong delivery for
Antofagasta.

We delivered record financial performance and made significant progress in the
development of our major growth projects.

We produced 654,000 tonnes of copper, with our two main mining districts
operating in the first quartile for costs.

Our strong cash generation has enabled us to continue providing a balance
between investments in growth and attractive shareholder returns.

As such, the Board has been able to propose a final dividend which, if
approved, will bring the full-year payout to 50% of net earnings, increasing
the dividend per share paid by 106%. This, once again, exceeds the minimum
level stated in our dividend policy and continues our long-standing track
record of strong returns to shareholders.

Operational resilience

Operational resilience remains a key strength of our business.

Our operations at Los Pelambres and Centinela continue to demonstrate their
scale, quality and long-term potential. These are long-life assets with
significant resource bases, supported by established infrastructure and deep
operational expertise.

Our teams have continued to manage industry-wide cost pressures effectively,
maintaining competitiveness despite global challenges, which positions the
Group well for the future.

Strategic growth

Growth is an important pillar of our strategy, and we are making strong
progress across our portfolio.

At Centinela, construction of the Second Concentrator Project is advancing
well, with the project now moving into a new phase focused on completing the
installation of key equipment and pre-commissioning work.

At Los Pelambres, work continues on the expansion of the desalination plant
and the new concentrate pipeline - both of which are critical for long-term
reliability and enabling future growth.

Together, these projects are expected to help increase our copper production
by around 30% before 2030, while also improving margins, extending mine lives
and enhancing operational resilience.

We have also made important progress in advancing our longer-term options,
including exploration projects in Chile, Peru and the United States. We
continued to assess opportunities through our investment in Buenaventura and
the development of our broader portfolio of organic growth options.

The approval of Zaldívar's Environmental Impact Assessment last May
represented a significant milestone, providing a pathway to extend the life of
this operation to 2051, unlocking the value of Zaldívar's resources.

Sustainability and communities

Sustainability remains central to our purpose - developing mining for a better
future - and guides how we operate and create long-term stakeholder value.

During the year, in addition to our strong safety performance, we achieved
full compliance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management,
which is a global, auditable framework that sets strict requirements for the
safe management of mine tailings facilities. We also completed recertification
under the enhanced criteria applied by the Copper Mark, which is a global
assurance scheme for responsible copper production.

Our partnerships with local communities continue to be very strong and central
to our strategy and the way we conduct our business. A key pillar of this work
remains our Somos Choapa programme, which is a strategic alliance with four
municipalities and communities focussed on long-term development priorities
such as education, infrastructure and climate resilience, as determined
through our local stakeholder engagement. The second cycle of our Somos Choapa
programme is now underway, following the initial 10-year cycle that we
recently completed.

Innovation

Innovation continues to be an important pillar in strengthening our
competitiveness and is increasingly playing a central role in modern mining.

We are advancing initiatives in automation, digitalisation and advanced
analytics to improve day-to-day safety, productivity and cost competitiveness
across our operations. During 2025, we started the pre-stripping activities at
our new Encuentro Sulphides pit at Centinela, planned as an autonomous truck
operation, and which follows the autonomous fleet currently operating at the
Esperanza Sur pit.

At the same time, we are developing transformational technologies such as our
proprietary primary sulphide leaching technology, Cuprochlor-T, which has the
potential to unlock additional value from our resource base, either through
higher recoveries, bringing into production new lower grade resources or
enabling mine life extension at new or existing mines.

People and governance

Our people are fundamental to our success.

Their capability, their commitment and their professionalism underpin our
performance, and we continue to invest in building a strong and inclusive
workforce, with a particular focus on increasing local employment levels near
our operating companies. During 2025 we also achieved our aspiration of having
30% female participation across our workforce, including operators,
supervisors and executives, this is higher than the industry participation in
Chile and globally. I am proud to say that we are one of the most attractive
organisations to work for across our sector.

Turning to governance, there have been several important changes to the
composition of our Board over the past 12 months.

Ignacio Bustamante accepted our invitation to join the Board as an Independent
Non-Executive Director in July last year. Ignacio has over 30 years of mining
experience in Peru and the Americas and I am sure that his broad experience
will be of great benefit to the Company in the years ahead.

Earlier this year, Andrónico Luksic Craig decided to stand down from the
Board. I would like to thank Andrónico for his significant contribution to
the Board and important role in the development of the Company over the past
twelve years.

We were very pleased to welcome Andrónico Luksic Lederer to the Board in
March. He brings extensive experience from his previous executive role with
us, where he has played a key role in our business development achievements
and the advancement of our project pipeline and development of our strong
resource base.

The Board continues to maintain a strong focus on strategy, capital allocation
and risk management.

And with these recent changes continues to be well positioned to support the
next phase of the Company's growth and development.

Outlook

Looking ahead, the outlook for copper remains compelling.

At this meeting last year, I spoke about a period of uncertainty in both the
global economy and the domestic policy environment.

Since then, we have seen positive progress in the policy environment in Chile,
with greater clarity and continued support for investment following the recent
presidential election. Today we have a consensus on the need to support
economic growth, encourage investment and improve the efficiency of permitting
processes, which are all important factors for the long-term competitiveness
of the mining sector.

In respect of the macro-economic environment, we are seeing a heightened level
of uncertainty, with resilience an important theme for companies in today's
environment.

At Antofagasta, we are delivering against our strategy, and believe in the
continued long-term fundamentals of the copper market.

We have a clear strategy, a strong portfolio of assets and projects, an
experienced team and a disciplined approach to capital allocation. Our focus
remains on operating safely, delivering our projects and continuing to create
value for our stakeholders.

Closing

In closing, I would like to thank all of our people across the Group. Their
dedication and professionalism make our achievements possible, as we continue
to deliver our purpose of developing mining for a better future. Thank you.

 
 

Investors -
London
Media - London

Rosario Orchard
rorchard@antofagasta.co.uk (mailto:rorchard@antofagasta.co.uk)
                  Sara Powell
antofagasta@fticonsulting.com (mailto:antofagasta@fticonsulting.com)

Robert Simmons
rsimmons@antofagasta.co.uk (mailto:rsimmons@antofagasta.co.uk)
               Ben Brewerton

Telephone                               +44 20
7808 0988                                      Nick Hennis

 
Telephone               +44 20 3727 1000

 
Media - Santiago

 
Pablo Orozco           porozco@aminerals.cl
(mailto:porozco@aminerals.cl)

 
 
Carolina Pica           cpica@aminerals.cl
(mailto:cpica@aminerals.cl)

Telephone               +56 2 2798 7000

 

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_________________________________________________________________________________________

Cautionary Statement

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to
be, forward-looking statements.

 

These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and
assumptions regarding anticipated developments and other factors affecting the
Group. They are not historical facts, nor are they guarantees of future
performance or outcomes. Readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.

 

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
assumptions and other factors that are beyond the Group's control. Given these
risks, uncertainties and assumptions, actual results could differ materially
from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements.

 

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document.
Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, the Group expressly
disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any
change in the Group's expectations with regard thereto or any change in
events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based. No
assurance can be given that the forward-looking statements in this document
will be realised. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future
performance.

 

This document does not contain or comprise profit forecasts, investment,
accounting, legal, regulatory or tax advice nor is it an invitation for you to
enter into any transaction. You are advised to exercise your own independent
judgement (with the advice of your professional advisers as necessary) with
respect to the risks and consequences of any matter contained herein.

 

 

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