Antofagasta plc delivered robust financial performance in the first half of 2026, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rising 27% to $2,840.5 million compared to $2,234.2 million in the same period of 2025. The company's EBITDA margin expanded by 5 percentage points to 63.4%, maintaining its position towards the top end of global pure-play copper producers. The mining company's strong performance was primarily driven by higher realised commodity prices, particularly copper.
The average realised copper price increased by 36% year-on-year to $6.19 per pound in H1 2026, compared to $4.55 per pound in H1 2025. Gold prices rose by 46% to $4,772 per ounce and molybdenum prices increased by 55% to $32.6 per pound during the period. Revenue for the first half of 2026 reached $4,479.0 million, an 18% increase from $3,799.4 million in H1 2025.
This was achieved despite lower copper sales volumes, which decreased by 18.4% to 250,500 tonnes from 306,900 tonnes in the prior year period. The decline in volumes was principally driven by lower production at the Centinela and Los Pelambres operations, partly offset by stronger realised prices and improved by-product credits. Copper production for H1 2026 totalled 285,000 tonnes, representing a 9% decrease year-on-year, primarily due to lower output from Centinela and Los Pelambres.
At Los Pelambres, copper production was 7% lower at 133,800 tonnes, mainly reflecting concentrate inventory accumulation due to concentrate pipeline maintenance in the second quarter. Centinela's copper production decreased by 16% to 97,100 tonnes, principally related to lower copper grades. Operating cash flow increased significantly by 53% to $2,772.9 million in H1 2026 from $1,812.0 million in H1 2025, driven by strong earnings and positive movements in working capital.
The improvement was mainly attributable to a $150.0 million decrease in working capital, driven by a reduction in accounts receivable at period-end. The company's balance sheet remained resilient, with combined cash, cash equivalents and liquid investments of $4,160.1 million as at 30 June 2026. Total borrowings were $8,126.2 million, resulting in a net debt position of $3,966.1 million with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.68x.
The Board declared an interim dividend of 30.1 cents per ordinary share, equivalent to a 35% payout ratio of underlying earnings, in line with the company's capital allocation framework. Cash costs before by-product credits increased by 23% to $2.85 per pound in H1 2026, driven by higher input costs, labour settlement costs at Centinela and the effects of lower production. However, net cash costs decreased by 8% to $1.22 per pound, reflecting stronger by-product credits and disciplined cost control.
Capital expenditure in H1 2026 reached $1,672.1 million, slightly above the $1,620.4 million in H1 2025. The company maintained its full year capital expenditure guidance of $3.4 billion, with major growth projects at Centinela and Los Pelambres continuing to advance towards completion of commissioning in 2027. These projects are collectively expected to deliver a 30% increase in copper production.
Profit before tax increased by 72% to $1,995.8 million in H1 2026 from $1,162.0 million in H1 2025, reflecting the higher revenue and operational improvements. The effective tax rate was 36.0% compared to 36.5% in H1 2025. Earnings per share increased by 62% to 85.9 cents from 52.9 cents in the prior year period.
The company noted that Los Pelambres resumed operations in late July 2026 following an orderly shutdown in response to extraordinarily severe weather conditions in Chile. As a result of the adverse weather impact, the company revised its full year 2026 copper production guidance to a range of 625,000-655,000 tonnes, down from the previous guidance. Source: Antofagasta plc Half Year Results announcement, 13 August 2026, published on antofagasta.co.uk.
Source: antofagasta.co.uk