London, June 8, 2026, 15:12 BST
Antofagasta plc shares gained in London on Monday afternoon, recovering some ground after Friday’s steep drop as buyers stepped in. Shares traded at 4,018 pence, up 48p, or 1.21%, at 14:53 BST. The session started at 3,852p and peaked at 4,020p, according to Investors Chronicle market data.
Copper futures edged up, but direction remains unclear for investors. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.38% to $13,570.50 a ton in early Monday trading, yet prices hovered near one-week lows, pressured by softer Chinese prices and worries over U.S. rates.
Antofagasta shares were caught in a crosscurrent. The stock slid 5.7% to £39.70 on Friday, while the FTSE 100 was up 0.07%. Trading volume was under the 50-day average, MarketWatch data showed. It clawed back just part of the loss on Monday.
Antofagasta is tightly linked to the cycle. Investors Chronicle gave it a beta of 1.9620, meaning the stock tends to move more than the market. Shares were still up around 112% for the year, according to the publication.
The rebound was more noticeable as some London mining names slipped. According to Google Finance, Glencore fell 0.27% and Rio Tinto dropped 0.57%. Fresnillo, which mines precious metals, lost 1.07%.
No new statement came from the company. The latest updates on Antofagasta’s investor news page list May AGM materials, an April final dividend notice, and the April 15 Q1 production report.
Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada kept a positive view on medium-term copper demand in the company’s April report. First-quarter copper production came in at 143,000 tonnes, down 8% from the same period last year. Full-year guidance stayed at 650,000 to 700,000 tonnes.
Antofagasta kept the spotlight on costs. The miner said net cash costs for the first quarter came in at $1.08 a pound, down 30% from a year earlier. That drop got a lift from higher credits from by-products like gold and molybdenum.
The group wants investors to move past the weaker early output. Arriagada said production should increase each quarter, driven by higher ore processing and improved grades at Los Pelambres. He said pre-commissioning is underway at the Centinela Second Concentrator project.
Chairman Jean-Paul Luksic made the argument for copper’s future at the May annual meeting, calling copper “essential for electrification, energy security and the development of the digital economy.” He also brought up supply issues—lower ore grades, water shortages, and stricter permits. Antofagasta
Antofagasta’s shares jumped Monday, but the move could be getting ahead of copper itself. Rising rate bets tend to weigh on industrial metals, which lean on growth. There’s also softer Chinese demand and energy prices climbing, both a drag for margins and sentiment. The company still has to deliver at Centinela and Los Pelambres, and a big water-supply call at Zaldívar is coming in 2026.
Antofagasta is trading as a mix of copper play and volatility story. Shares have pulled back from the 52-week high at 4,475p but are still well above the year’s low of 1,675.5p, AJ Bell data shows. Market cap is around £39.4 billion.
