AGM Statement

Antofagasta PLC
7 June 2001

Antofagasta plc

NEWS RELEASE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 7 June 2001


The following is the full text of the remarks made by Mr Jean-Paul Luksic,
Deputy Chairman, at the annual general meeting in London today of Antofagasta
plc


I would like to take this opportunity to update you on our mining activities
since the beginning of the year 2001.  Before I do that, perhaps it would be
useful to re-cap on the results for 2000.  As mentioned in the Annual Report,
the Los Pelambres mine was completed within the original forecast budget of
US$1.36 billion; it then exceeded its planned capacity of 85,000 tonnes per
day by a considerable margin, produced almost 300,000 tonnes of copper in
concentrates during its first full year of operations - 8.7% above forecast -
and passed its completion tests in May 2000 ahead of schedule.  As a result,
total group copper production soared dramatically from 60,500 tonnes in 1999
to 351,100 tonnes in 2000.  The new production levels from Los Pelambres have
transformed Antofagasta from a relatively small mining group with rather high
cost operations into a significant copper producer with very low cash costs
averaging 39.2 cents per pound last year.



Group copper production is expected to increase to about 440,000 tonnes this
year: 350,000 tonnes provided by Los Pelambres, Michilla 50,000 tonnes and new
cathode production of 40,000 from El Tesoro since the end of April. Processing
levels at Los Pelambres, which have benefited from the optimisation of the
plant carried out last year, have averaged 98,400 tonnes per day (15.8% above
design capacity) during the first four months of this year but are now
expected to increase to an average level of 105,000 tpd by the year end.  Los
Pelambres produced 110,000 tonnes of payable copper in concentrates in the
first four months at cash costs of 38.5 cents per pound.



During the past year Antofagasta Minerals has been evaluating several
expansion scenarios for Los Pelambres ranging from 114,000 to 165,000 tonnes
per day.  Now, as a first step, a marginal expansion to 114,000 tpd over the
period of the mine plan has been approved which will require an investment
totalling approximately US$24 million mainly to install a pebble crusher
alongside the SAG mills and increase the cyclone capacity. This additional
crusher, which will process the intermediate sizes of ore, will boost
production and is scheduled to be in operation by August 2002.  Given the low
capital expenditure requirement, we expect the returns on the additional
investment to be very favourable.  This initial expansion will not prevent
further increases in plant capacity to 165,000 tpd or more and these options
will be kept under review.  Los Pelambres, with its strong cash flow, is
expected to make a further distribution to its shareholders of approximately
US$43 million dollars in July, as well as continuing its repayments on its
project borrowings.

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The next to mention is the new El Tesoro mine which produced its first 1,106
tons of cathodes by the end of April this year, which was about three weeks
ahead of schedule.  In fact, construction of the mine proceeded very smoothly
during 2000 with no major delays or setbacks.  Total development costs are
about US$4 million less than the budgeted figure of US$296 million.  We
consider that these were very good results and would like to acknowledge the
efforts and commitment of the Tesoro management team, some of whom were
involved in the construction and operation of a similar SXEW plant at the
Michilla mine during 1992 and 1994.  I can add that El Tesoro's accident
record throughout the whole construction period was the lowest in Chile and
compares well with the mining industry worldwide.  El Tesoro is now in its
ramp-up stage and plans to reach its full monthly production capacity of 6,250
tonnes by August and to produce 41,300 tons of cathodes during the eight
months of operations in 2001.  El Tesoro will be one of the lowest cost
producers in the industry, with average cash costs of approximately 40 cents
in its first five years of operation.

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Moving on to the Michilla mine where production levels of 50,000 tonnes of
cathodes per year are being maintained despite lower ore grades.  In order to
achieve this Michilla is now at Phase 8 of its open pit expansion programme
and is also investing nearly US$4 million dollars to increase throughput in
the crusher plant.  In addition, Michilla will spend US$2.3 million this year
and US$2 million next year on exploration to extend the mine life beyond 2007.

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Turning to exploration, which is a very important part of the mining industry,
our exploration focus now remains on the Esperanza Project which is 5 kms from
the Tesoro open pit, and has good potential to be developed as an open pit
mine.  Esperanza is estimated to have reserves of 70 million tonnes of oxides
with a copper grade of 0.42% and 260 million tonnes of sulphides with a copper
grade of 0.70% and a gold grade of 0.33 grammes per ton, which together are
equivalent to a copper grade of approximately 0.87%. Total reserves at
Esperanza contain nearly 2 million tonnes of recoverable copper and over 2
million ounces of gold.  We consider that Esperanza will probably be the next
project in the Group's expansion programme. At the Magistral project in Peru,
a 14,000 metre drilling programme is proceeding at a cost of US$3 million, and
on completion the Group will have earned a 51% interest in the joint-venture
project.  So far the drilling results are positive.  Finally, we were pleased
to announce in April that the Group had acquired a 51% interest in a number of
exploration properties in Chile's Second Region.  Most of these properties are
located near El Tesoro and the El Abra mine and we will be evaluating them
carefully over the next few years.  Several of these properties adjoin the
Group's existing operations and could provide additional ore at low cost.



Finally, the FCAB railway, which remains an integral part of the Group.  Today
nearly all of its tonnage consists of mining related products which
contributed to another record in 2000 when total tonnage carried increased to
3.3 million. The FCAB expects the current year to be comparable in terms of
tonnage carried but perhaps slightly more profitable.  Looking ahead a little
to 2002, the FCAB railway is expecting a tonnage increase of more than 20% and
its management is already preparing to meet this challenge.  The demand is
coming mainly from developments and expansions in the Antofagasta mining
district which are now underway - particularly at the Zaldivar and El Abra
mines which are planning to increase or maintain their production levels.  In
order to meet these requirements, an additional ten reconditioned General
Motors mainline locomotives have been added to the fleet this year and are
expected to be in service by the end of September. Over 80 additional new tank
cars to transport acid will be delivered during 2001 and 2002 and the track
upgrading programme (there is a map on page 15 of the Annual Report showing
the progress to date) will continue.  We remain optimistic about the future
demand for the FCAB's services in the north of Chile.

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Overall, the Group's prospects for continued growth are strong.


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Contacts:

Antofagasta plc

Mr Philip Adeane, Managing Director             Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]


Bankside Consultants Limited

Keith Irons                                     Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]                              Cell: 07885 356 639