Company has three business divisions: Mining, Transport and Water, being the first of them the most important. Antofagasta plc is one of the largest international copper producing companies in the industry. Its activities are mainly concentrated in Chile where it owns and operates three copper mines, Los Pelambres, El Tesoro and Michilla, with a total production of 498 thousand tonnes in 2004, at an average cash cost of 24.4 c/lb. The Groups mining division, Antofagasta Minerals, is also actively involved in exploration particularly in Chile and Peru. The transport division operates an extensive rail network servicing the important mining region of northern Chile, which is centred on the port of Antofagasta. The water division operates a concession for the distribution of water in this region.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Copper mining: 94%
Rail transport:   4%
Water:             2%

decided to bank my fairly modest profit this afternoon on the basis that i see no harm in taking some money off the table and there was a also a downgrade the other day ...... i still think this is a really good company with much going for it, so will keep on my watch list with a view to buying if/when sp falls tp rising 25 dma

ANTO is still a sell at 495p despite at its current bottom 'cos it is going down even further.

Like the logic lol.

SELL ANTO at 368p.

Gone short myself hlyeo after reading this report...

Copper Falls for Second Day on Concern About U.S. Recession
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By Claudia Carpenter

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Copper and nickel slid for a second day in London as reports showed the U.S. recession may be deepening, curbing demand for industrial metals further.

Copper has dropped more than 60 percent since the beginning of July as a worsening housing market in the U.S. crimped demand for the metal used in pipes and wiring. U.S. crude oil inventories jumped more than expected to the highest since May, and companies pared 693,000 jobs in December, also exceeding economists forecasts, reports showed yesterday.

Fairly poor data for U.S. employment and the latest U.S. inventory data reaffirm weakness in the economy, said Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London.

Copper for delivery in three months fell $90, or 2.7 percent, to $3,250 a metric ton as of 1:54 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. It declined 1.5 percent yesterday and was a record $8,940 on July 2. The Comex March-delivery copper contract fell 2.1 percent to $1.4795 a pound.

LS-Nikko Copper Inc., operator of the worlds third-largest copper refiner and smelter, plans to cut this years output by 10 percent on falling demand.

Nickel, which is used in stainless steel, declined $650, or 5.3 percent, to $11,650 a ton. Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., a Japanese stainless steel producer, said it will suspend production at its plant in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, for three days a month as it cuts output by 60 percent from first-half levels.

Nickel jumped as much as 13 percent this year and copper climbed to a one-month high on speculation government spending programs will revive economies, spurring consumption of homes, cars and other items that contain industrial metals.

Opportunity to Sell

Buying by index funds that helped support nickel prices as they rebalance their holdings provided an opportunity for other investors to sell inventory, Smith said. Nickel may drop to less than $10,000 a ton in the next few weeks, he said.

The UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index of 26 commodities dropped 4.2 percent yesterday, the first drop this year. It was down another 1.1 percent today.

Improvement in sentiment disappeared fairly quickly, Smith said.

The number of Americans getting unemployment benefit rose to 4.6 million last week, the most since 1982, the Labor Department said in Washington today. First-time filers fell by 24,000 to 467,000. Jobless claims were projected to rise to 545,000, economists said in a Bloomberg News survey.

Tin fell $250 to $11,350 a ton, zinc dropped $27 to $1,263 a ton and aluminum declined $39 to $1,555 a ton. Lead increased $11 to $1,151 a ton.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net or ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

Looks a little concerning with world demand falling away.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=a0icitJ82Ri4&refer=commodities

Two broker reports out yesterday with sell ratings...

Antofagasta PLC

FORECASTS

2008 2009
Date Rec Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p)

SG Securities
07-01-09 SELL 65.50 34.51 35.90 19.91

Exane BNP Paribas
07-01-09 SELL 1,363.72 63.35 22.86 370.98 19.59 8.49

Societe Generale downgrades the
stock to "sell" from "hold" on worries that hopes for a recovery in the copper
market may be overplayed.
The company has seen substantial cost hikes while the price of copper has
dropped 66 percent this year, leading to a "significant deterioration" in profit
margins, SocGen says in a research note.
The broker now expects EBITDA to fall to $229 million in the fourth quarter
from $492 million in the third, and revises its 12-month price target for
Antofagasta to 350 pence from 420 pence.
Reuters Messaging rm://john.coppock.reuters.com@reuters.net

Ex-divi date 16th sept '09 (2.07p)

It's time to sell the copper miners now. ANTO 771p now.

h98
you have been very quiet lately,i hope you are well.
personally i would never bet against you when you are on the short side..halloween?
glad i dont hold these.
regards
jkd

Hi jkd,
I am just back from a long holiday. Certainly nice 2 hear from u.
Best regards,
h98

u still alive, hyleo.......id have thought u would have flung yourself off a bridge or high rise building by now.

never mind, why dont you sell yourself........or how about your shorts.....maybe they are worthless now as burnt long time ago

is ur holiday in a caravan ie. your new home

I wonder where marni is nowadays, hope he hasn't done what he said he wished me to do as above.

Anyway I think ANTO is good to short now as copper price has gone down.

h98
you got it wrong me thinks, marni is/was a she. by his own admission. maybe i just got confused? no doubt "they " would point out that at 771 in Nov we got it totally wrong and they would be right to do so.
regards
jkd

Thanks, jkd for pointing out. No wonder she was so bitter.
Well, I thought not many men would say such thing.

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned

Another 24 hour trade with CFD's

Bought 6000 CFD ANTO at 853 yesterday 15.30 p.m.
Sold 6000 at 903.50 today 10.20 a.m.

Add CFDADN and CFDANTO Good day today - not always so lucky thou.

Drinks are on me Stan

i know i need a (quality!) base metal miner in my portfolio, but have been undecided which is the best bet

any thoughts other than ANTO (blue)? ..... RIO (red)? ...... KAZ a vile performer - green)? ...... VED (black)?

I am mostly a trader not a long term investor.

Sometimes I need to wait a few weeks for the right prices, when particular shares
seem cheap, but I have been caught out with a falling knife a few times.

KAZ - I know you say other than, but I think once ENRC take over is out of the way and KAZ is paid about $850m in cash and then many of its own shares returned to it, then it would be in a great position ( cash rich and plenty of its own shares to either resell or cancel etc ) to move forward in its own right rather than being tied into ENRC's lack of progress. I like KAZ and have 20,000, admittedly at 335p.

FXPO - Iron ore in Europe, sells mostly as pellets within Europe but also to China etc. They do not need to move iron ore from miles away - Mocambique etc.
Problem seems that the shares are tightly held by directors, thus share price is volatile, but I think well worth buying if you can get them at about 175p or less.

I only follow a few miners - I also think Vedanta ( ? Aluminium ) is now sorting itself out and could be a buy at about 1150 - I shall probably wait now a few days to see if market settles back.

If our favourite AFN drops back I will probably buy that again, 142 / 139 p ??.

Nice in Benidorm today - sunny but cool, and I am feeling better than lately
Bob

i'm sure you don't mean AFN, so what should it be?
anyhow, thanks for your guidance and shall investigate further