Star Tribune reporter talks Antofagasta’s mining history

WTIP spoke to the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Chloe Johnson regarding her article on the Chilean mining conglomerate, Antofagasta, whose subsidiary, Twin Metals, has been working on a copper-nickel mine in the Boundary Waters Watershed.

Johnson’s article, “Company behind proposed mine near the Boundary Waters has history of conflict with locals in Chile,” is available at the Star Tribune website.

Below is an excerpt of the interview.

WTIP: We’re talking today about a piece you wrote on Antifa gasta. Can you explain what Antofagasta is and why you were interested in writing a story on that mining conglomerate?

Johnson: Absolutely. Antofagasta is a company that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, but really it’s one of several companies owned by a very wealthy Chilean family.  It operates for copper mines in Chile, it’s a top 10 global producer of copper, and it’s also the company that wholly owns the Twin Metals project here in Northeast Minnesota.

WTIP: As you were doing your story, who did you speak to, and what research did you do into the company?

Johnson: Yeah, so I spoke with several experts, you know, geographers, political scientists, and folks in the mining industry who were familiar with this company. Many of them are based in Chile, or have spent long periods living in Chile to learn more about this firm, and you know, I spent a long time going through records from that country’s environmental regulator and other coverage, just to learn more about how they operate their minds and whether there have been conflicts around some of their mining projects.

WTIP: So can you take us through the company’s history prior to its interest in Minnesota?

Johnson: Absolutely. So this firm actually started its life as a railroad company in northern Chile, and I believe, Bolivia as well. And it was purchased in the late 70s by the Luksic Group, which is owned by the Luksic family. The Luksics and Chile are kind of like you might think about the Rockefellers in the United States, you know, a really wealthy family that owns all sorts of business interests. They own a TV channel, they own vineyards. They own a major beverage company in Chile. These folks are certainly billionaires, and so, you know, this company developed into, you know, it’s a major division, as the copper mining division. It still runs railroads as well. And it’s interesting, you know, this is like a family dynasty, a family business dynasty, and the head of that dynasty, Andrónico Luksic, who has now passed, had a really interesting quote I found, because many of these mines are in the very dry northern region of Chile, and so according to their family foundation, at the end of his career, he said that he kind of looked out over the Desert in northern Chile and said, “God, it can’t be that this desert is here for nothing. That there’s nothing here. I always thought it must contain something valuable.”And of course, that is copper. There is a lot of copper in Chile, and it’s not just Antofagasta mining it. There’s a lot of international conglomerates there as well.

The full audio interview can be found below.

Josh Hinke May 15, 2026