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Mining giant Antofagasta cut its outlook on full-year production, but hiked its interim dividend after reporting a jump in first-half profit, underpinned by rising copper prices.
For the six months ended 30 June, pre-tax profit jumped by $1.40 billion to $1.78 billion year-on-year as revenue climbed 67.9% to $3.59 billion.
The revenue was driven by higher realised copper prices, though partially offset by a decrease in the volume of copper sales, the company said.
Copper production in the first six months of the year was 361,500 tonnes, in line with expectations and 2.8% lower than in the same period last year mainly because of lower grades.
An interim dividend of 23.6 cents per share was declared, up 280.6% on last year's interim.
Looking ahead, output guidance was cut to a range of 710,000 to 740,000 tonnes from of 730,000-to-760,000 tonnes previously, citing adverse weather conditions.
'This year has been the driest of a 12-year drought in Chile. Given the traditional rainy season runs from June to September, it is looking increasingly likely that the low levels of precipitation will continue until at least the Southern Hemisphere winter next year,' the company said.