*
Antofagasta's 2022 core earnings fall 39%
*
Shares dip 1.8%
*
Company maintains copper output, capex forecasts for 2023
(Adds detail, shares, analyst comment)
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Chilean miner Antofagasta more than halved its annual dividend after reporting a 39% fall
in full-year profit on Tuesday, as high input costs, reduced
copper grades and a drought in Chile hit its copper production.
The London-listed group's shares were down 1.8% at 0840 GMT.
Antofagasta reiterated that it expects copper production,
which fell 10% last year, to rise through 2023, helped by the
relaxation of COVID-19 curbs in China and a growing shift
towards green energy.
Demand for copper, which is used in "green" applications
from solar panels to electric cars, is expected to increase as
countries around the world look to make major energy
transitions.
Antofagasta's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation,
and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2022 was $2.9 billion, and the
miner declared a total dividend payout of 59.7 cents for the
year.
The annual EBITDA trailed RBC Capital Markets' expectations
by 1%, and was 2% below consensus estimates from Visible Alpha,
according to an analyst note from RBC.
Antofagasta made a record shareholder payout of 142.5 cents
per share in 2021, amounting to $1.4 billion, when surging
copper prices had helped it post its highest-ever profit.
Chile, where Antofagasta operates four copper mines, is
facing a water crisis due to drought that has lasted more than a
decade and has impacted copper mining and output.
Water is needed in copper smelting, and in the concentrator,
which breaks down raw ore and processes it into usable material.
Antofagasta on Tuesday maintained its expectations for
copper production in 2023.
The group also left its capital expenditure forecast for
this year unchanged at $1.9 billion, as it deals with mine
development expenditure at its Centinela operations and costs
from projects at its flagship Los Pelambres mine.
(Reporting by Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by
Uttaresh.V and Jan Harvey)
