ANTO Antofagasta Plc

By Alex MacDonald and Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Chilean copper miner Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) Friday said Chief Executive Diego Hernández is retiring be replaced and will replaced by Iván Arriagada, current head of the company's mining division.

The handover takes place with immediate effect and Mr. Hernández will stay on as an adviser to the board, the company said.

"It has been a privilege to have led Antofagasta over the past three and a half years supported by an excellent team through difficult times," Mr. Hernández said.

"It is now time to hand over the reins to Iván who has the track record to capitalise on the progress we have made to strengthen the group and to take it forward," he added.

Antofagasta's shares were up 1.2% at 431.80 pence in afternoon London trading.

Mr. Arriagada, 52, has 25 years of operational and financial experience in the mining and oil and gas industries. He became chief executive of Antofagasta's flagship mining division in February 2015 after having served as vice-president of administration and finance at Codelco, the world's largest copper mining company by output. Prior to that, he held various positions at the world's largest mining company by value, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), including vice-president of base metals production and chief financial officer of the base metals division. Mr. Arriagada also worked for almost 20 years at Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) in Chile, the U.K., Argentina and the U.S.

Mining analysts at BMO Capital Markets said the appointment of a new chief executive at Antofagasta is unlikely to result in a material change to the company's strategic direction. However, they noted that "a fresh pair of hands at the tiller could be a catalyst for renewed investor interest in the company during this period of challenging market conditions."

Shares in Antoafagasta have fallen 40% over the past year due to slackening economic growth in China, the world's largest consumer of many commodities, as well as ample supply of the red metal. The FTSE-100 miner warned last month that this year would continue to be challenging, prompting it to postpone all investment decisions on future growth projects until the market improves, possibly in 2017.

Mr. Hernandez announced his retirement a month after Sam Walsh, chief executive of the world's second largest diversified mining company, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO), announced his retirement. Mr. Walsh is handing over the reins to Rio Tinto's former copper boss, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, in July after having spent the last three years as chief executive, cutting costs and boosting productivity at the miner.

Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com and Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2016 09:37 ET (13:37 GMT)

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