As buying and selling opened on Friday, 14 August 2026, the FTSE 100 was down nearly 150 factors for the week. A lot of the losses had been pushed by main miners Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO), Glencore, and Anglo American — all of which dropped round 3%-5% the day past.
Barely much less impacted was Endeavour Mining, down 0.7%, Rio Tinto, down 1.4%, and Fresnillo, down 1.1%.
The six companies collectively contribute round £284.4bn to the UK market, with the mixed losses on Thursday leading to roughly £6.9bn in misplaced worth.
| Firm | Market worth | Friday’s transfer | Approx. worth misplaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Tinto | £121.3bn | −1.4% | £1.8bn |
| Glencore | £63.7bn | −2.4% | £1.6bn |
| Anglo American | £44.9bn | −1.8% | £1bn |
| Antofagasta | £34.9bn | −4.8% | £2bn |
| Fresnillo | £20.9bn | −1.1% | £0.3bn |
| Endeavour Mining | £9.7bn | −0.7% | £0.2bn |
| Whole | £295.4bn | −2.35% weighted | £6.9bn |
By shut of day, a few of the losses had been recovered. However the scenario nonetheless paints a stark image of simply how vital mining is to the home financial system.
So what occurred to UK mining final week, and what does it imply for traders?
Antofagasta is likely one of the UK’s most distinguished pure-play copper miners, having produced roughly 653,700 tonnes of the purple steel in 2025.
It operates 4 mines throughout Chile and as such, is very delicate to copper costs, Chilean working situations, manufacturing volumes, and mission execution.
On Thursday (13 August 2026), the miner launched its first-half outcomes, exhibiting an 18% income bounce and pre-tax revenue up 72% to $2bn. Earnings per share (EPS) climbed 62% to 85.9c, selling an enormous 81% dividend enhance to 30.1c per share.
And but regardless of the spectacular outcomes, traders selected to concentrate on one factor: a discount in its 2026 copper-production forecast to 625,000–655,000 tonnes, down from 650,000–700,000 tonnes.
The downgrade adopted extreme rain and snowfall in Chile, which briefly shut the corporate’s Los Pelambres mine and broken some pipeline platforms and water-management infrastructure.
The decrease steerage implies a discount of roughly 5% on the midpoint, which raises issues about:
- Decrease copper gross sales volumes
- Probably greater unit prices
- Restore and remediation expenditure
- Elevated threat for the rest of winter in Chile
First-half copper output was 285,000 tonnes, down roughly 9% yr on yr, principally due to weaker manufacturing at Los Pelambres and Centinela.
The decline got here amid a wider retreat in mining shares as copper and industrial-metals sentiment weakened.
The underside line
I’ve nearly no publicity to mining shares as a result of the businesses sometimes function exterior of my threat tolerance. Nevertheless, there’s no query that it’s a vital a part of the worldwide financial system, supplying uncooked minerals utilized in development, manufacturing, know-how, power, and agriculture.
Antofagasta says its Centinela and Los Pelambres initiatives stay on observe and are anticipated to assist a considerable manufacturing enhance from 2027 onwards.
From that perspective, this small dip may supply a low-cost shopping for alternative for risk-tolerant traders. But it surely’s not an apparent cut price. Operationally, Antofagasta is clearly doing effectively, however on the subject of environmental threat, you by no means know what to anticipate.
In the event you suppose you may deal with the volatility, it’s price a more in-depth look. Me? I’m extra into healthcare, housing, and utilities – and proper now, one FTSE 100 dividend inventory appears extra tempting than a wager on Chilean climate.
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Mark Hartley doesn’t maintain any positions within the firms talked about.
