Chilean Miner Clinches Copper PF Funds

Antofagasta Minerals has agreed to a $650m financing package that will help fund the Antucoya copper project, the Chilean mining company says in a statement. Banks participating in the financing are the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Export Development Canada (EDC), KfW IPEX-Bank, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui, Natixis and ING, along with Chilean banks Corpbanca and Banco del Estado. The borrower does not give additional details on the breakdown, pricing or maturity. Marubeni holds a 30% stake in the project, joining in 2011 when the estimated capital cost was $1.3bn. Antucoya is slated to start production in 2015, and should produce 80,000 tons of copper cathodes per year.