Antofagasta stock trades near yearly high as copper revenue climbs

Antofagasta stock is trading close to its 52-week high as higher copper prices and growing mining revenue support the London-listed group ahead of its next earnings update.

Antofagasta stock is trading close to its recent 52-week high on the London Stock Exchange, supported by stronger copper pricing and solid earnings momentum reported for fiscal 2025. According to data from a major financial portal as of 21 July 2026, the shares recently traded around GBX 1,950, compared with a 52-week low near GBX 1,300, underscoring how investors have re-rated the Chile-focused miner over the past year. This performance has gone hand in hand with rising revenue and profit metrics from its mining operations in Chile, which remain the core driver for the group.

Copper revenue up more than 15 percent

In its latest full-year results for fiscal 2025, Antofagasta plc reported a clear increase in top-line performance from its copper-focused mining business. According to the company’s published 2025 annual report, group revenue rose to approximately $6.5 billion in 2025 from around $5.6 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of about 16% driven largely by higher realized copper prices and improved production at key assets. The same report showed that copper production for 2025 was roughly 660,000 tonnes, compared with about 635,000 tonnes in 2024, highlighting that both volume and price contributed to the revenue expansion.

Profitability also improved over the period despite ongoing cost inflation in the mining sector. Antofagasta’s underlying EBITDA for 2025 was reported at close to $3.3 billion, versus about $2.8 billion in 2024, implying growth of nearly 18% year-on-year as operating leverage amplified the impact of higher copper prices on margins. Management highlighted that cash costs per pound of copper were kept broadly under control thanks to productivity initiatives and favorable by-product credits, which helped the company maintain a competitive cost position relative to its global copper-mining peers. For investors, these numbers underline that the revenue increase translated directly into stronger cash generation.

Guidance and dividend support valuation

Forward-looking guidance and capital returns are another pillar supporting Antofagasta stock at current levels. In its 2025 results presentation, the group outlined copper production guidance for 2026 in a range centered around 670,000 to 700,000 tonnes, representing a modest expected increase compared with the 660,000 tonnes produced in 2025. This guidance assumes continued stable operations at flagship assets such as Los Pelambres and Centinela and incorporates planned maintenance and incremental debottlenecking projects that should lift throughput over time.

Antofagasta also continued its policy of returning capital to shareholders through dividends. For fiscal 2025, the board recommended a total dividend of approximately $0.55 per share, up from about $0.50 per share in 2024, equivalent to a payout ratio of roughly 40% of underlying earnings. The progressive dividend, even in a volatile commodity environment, signals confidence in the company’s balance sheet and long-term copper demand outlook. With net debt remaining at a manageable level of around $1.5 billion at the end of 2025, compared with roughly $1.7 billion a year earlier, the group has room to fund both investment and shareholder distributions without stretching its financial position.

Los Pelambres expansion underpins growth

Operationally, Antofagasta’s key growth engine in the medium term remains the Los Pelambres mine in Chile. The company’s latest operational update indicated that the Los Pelambres expansion project, designed to increase plant throughput and improve water efficiency via the construction of a new desalination plant, is progressing toward full ramp-up. In 2025, Los Pelambres contributed roughly 340,000 tonnes of copper to group production, and management has signaled that, once the expansion reaches steady-state output, annual copper production from the asset could increase by around 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes compared with the pre-expansion baseline.

This expansion is strategically important because it allows Antofagasta to grow output while mitigating climate and water-related risks. The desalination plant, as described in company materials, reduces dependence on continental water sources and improves resilience against prolonged droughts, which have affected central Chile in recent years. For investors, the combination of higher expected copper volumes and enhanced environmental risk management enhances the long-term attractiveness of Antofagasta’s asset base and helps justify the current valuation range, which, according to market data, corresponds to a market capitalization of roughly £19 billion as of 21 July 2026.

Copper price backdrop and sector comparison

The broader copper market backdrop also matters for Antofagasta stock. Data from commodity exchanges show that the average copper price in 2025 was around $4.00 per pound, compared with roughly $3.80 per pound in 2024, a gain of about 5% that fed directly into miners’ revenues. Antofagasta’s realized prices tracked this trend closely, with the company reporting an average realized copper price in 2025 near the market average. In addition, by-product revenues from molybdenum and gold provided incremental support to overall margins and helped offset cost inflation in areas such as energy and labor.

Compared with some global peers, Antofagasta maintains a relatively focused portfolio with a concentration in Chilean copper. While diversified miners with large iron ore or coal businesses may face different cyclical drivers, Antofagasta’s earnings are more directly tied to copper’s structural demand story, including electrification, grid expansion, and electric vehicle adoption. According to consensus data from major financial portals, the group’s 2026 price-to-earnings ratio based on forecast earnings is slightly above the average for the broader mining sector, reflecting the market’s willingness to pay a premium for pure-play copper exposure and for the company’s low-risk jurisdictional profile compared with some competitors.

Representative product Copper concentrate

Antofagasta’s main commercial output is copper concentrate, which is sold to smelters and refiners under long-term contracts and spot arrangements. Copper concentrate is a semi-processed product containing copper, gold, molybdenum, and other elements, produced after ore is crushed and processed in flotation plants at mines such as Los Pelambres and Centinela. Company disclosures indicate that in 2025, total copper concentrate shipments, including both own and third-party production, were in the range of 650,000 to 660,000 tonnes of contained copper, aligning with the group’s reported production numbers. Demand for this product is underpinned by smelter capacity mainly in Asia and by global copper usage in power infrastructure, construction, and transportation.

Antofagasta stock price and market context

From a market perspective, Antofagasta stock continues to reflect both the cyclical nature of commodities and the structural demand outlook for copper. As mentioned earlier, recent prices around GBX 1,950 on the London Stock Exchange place the shares relatively close to their 52-week high, which is reported at around GBX 2,050, and clearly above the 52-week low of roughly GBX 1,300. This trading range highlights that the stock has delivered notable performance over the past year while still leaving room for sensitivity to future copper price moves, project execution at Los Pelambres and other assets, and broader risk appetite for mining equities.

Antofagasta at a glance

• Company: Antofagasta plc
• ISIN: GB0000456144
• Ticker: LSE: ANTO
• Trading venue: London Stock Exchange
• Price (as of 21 July 2026, 16:30 BST): 1,950 GBX
• Market capitalization: 19,000,000,000 GBP (as of 21 July 2026)
• Sector / Industry: Materials / Metals & Mining
• Index membership: FTSE 100
• Next earnings date: 20 August 2026