Exploration Joint Venture

Antofagasta PLC
7 June 2002



                Park House, 16 Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7AH

          Antofagasta and CVRD agree Exploration Joint Venture in Peru

LONDON 7 June 2002 - Antofagasta announces a joint venture with Companhia Vale
Do Rio Doce ('CVRD'), the world's largest producer and exporter of iron ore and
pellets based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The agreement covers mining
exploration activities within an extended area located near Cuzco in the
southwest Cordillera, one of the main metallogenic copper belts in Peru.

Under the agreement, Anaconda Peru S.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Antofagasta plc, will transfer its exploration properties and rights in the area
into a newly formed Peruvian company.  The agreement also provides for CVRD to
acquire a 50% interest in the joint venture company after spending US$6.7
million over a three-year period on an exploration and evaluation programme of
the mining properties.

The joint venture will boost Antofagasta's exploration programme in Peru and
complement its existing exploration activities in Chile.  Antofagasta's copper
production for 2002 is expected to exceed 460,000 tonnes at an average cash cost
of 41 cents per pound.


                                      Ends



For further enquiries:

Ricardo Muhr, Antofagasta Minerals S.A., Chile           [phone]
[e-mail]

Philip Adeane, Antofagasta plc                           [phone]
[e-mail]

Keith Irons, Bankside Consultants                        [phone]
[e-mail]


                      This information is provided by RNS
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