UK-domiciled, LSE-listed mining group Antofagasta plc last year paid $316 833 000.00 to Chilean, and $206 000.00 to US, government authorities in taxes and fees. The company released this information on Friday in its “2017 Report on Payments to Governments”. The release of such reports is required by both UK and European Union regulations. Under these regulations, during a single year a payment, or a related series of payments, coming to less than the equivalent of £86 000.00 (€100 000.00), need not be disclosed.  

Mining is responsible for 90% of Antofagasta’s revenues and earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. (The rest comes from the group’s transport operations.) The mining operations fall under its Chile-based subsidiary Antofagasta Minerals SA. Most of the group’s mining activities are also in Chile, but it is developing the Twin Metals copper/nickel/platinum-group metals project in the state of Minnesota in the US.

The group owns and operates three copper mines in Chile: Los Pelambres (60%-held by Antofagasta), Centinela (70%-owned) and Antucoya (also 70%-owned). It is also in a 50:50 joint venture, or JV (Zaldivar), which it operates. Twin Metals is 100%-held by the group. The figures for the tax and fee payments to the various state and national governments represent the total payments made by these various subsidiary operations, and not just Antofagasta’s proportionate share.

Payments by the Zaldivar operation are excluded, because it is a JV and not a subsidiary. Payments by the group’s transport division are also excluded, because it is not involved in any mining activities.

Regarding Twin Metals, Antofagasta paid $157 000.00 in fees to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and $49 000.00 in fees to the US Department of the Interior. In Chile, the group paid the National Treasury (Tesorería General de la República de Chile) $311 081 000.00 in taxes and $5 752 200.00 in fees. These figures have been rounded to the nearest $1 000.00. The total tax rate paid by the company in Chile is 35%. It also has to pay royalties, which in Chile are calculated on the profits – not the revenues or production levels – of mining operations.

Los Pelambres paid taxes of $258 600 000.00 and fees of $864 000.00 (total $259 464 000.00). Centinela paid $47 217 000.00 in taxes and $904 000.00 in fees (totalling $48 121 000.00). Antucoya received a tax refund of $39 985 000.00 but had to pay $154 000.00 in fees. Antofagasta Minerals had to pay fees totalling $3 332 000.00 for its various exploration activities, but it did receive a $9 218 000.00 tax refund. Other mining and mining-related subsidiaries paid $68 059 000.00 in taxes but received refunds worth $13 518 000.00. They also paid $93 000.00 in fees.