Directorate Change

Antofagasta PLC
31 March 2004

                                ANTOFAGASTA PLC



                     Appointment of Non-Executive Director



LONDON: Wednesday, 31 March 2004 - Antofagasta plc is pleased to announce the
appointment of Mr Daniel Yarur as a Non-Executive Director of the Company, with
immediate effect.



Mr Yarur (48) is a Chilean businessman with extensive experience of
international banking and securities markets and is currently a director of
several major Chilean companies, including Banco de Credito e Inversiones (BCI),
a Chilean banking group; Sociedad

Quimica y Minera SA (SQM), a Chilean mining company and AES Gener SA, a power
generating company.



Mr Yarur is the former Chairman of COSRA, the Council of Securities Regulators
of the Americas, and between 1994 and 2000 was Chairman of the Chilean
Securities and Exchange Commission and previously served as Deputy Chairman from
1990 to 1993.



He is a Chartered Accountant and studied at the University of Chile, the London
School of Economics and Harvard University, and before his appointment to the
Chilean SEC he previously served as Professor of Finance at the University of
Chile. He has also been an adviser to several Latin-American governments on
financial market issues.



The Company said: 'We are very pleased that Mr Yarur has agreed to join the
Board of Antofagasta.  His wide experience of financial markets, the mining
industry and the international securities business will enable him to make a
valuable contribution to Antofagasta.'





Enquiries -

Philip Adeane                             020 7808 0988

[e-mail]

Keith Irons                               020 7444 4155 / 07885 356 639

Bankside Consultants

[e-mail]





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