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Anglo American

How Anglo Quietly Built a Commodity Trader in Glencore’s Shadow – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – September 17, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Anglo American Plc has quietly become a commodities trader. In just five years, the century-old miner assembled marketing operations that now sell more metals than the company produces.

Yet the trading business gets barely a mention at presentations by Anglo executives or in analyst reports, taking a back seat to mines that produce everything from copper and platinum to diamonds.

Anglo’s move into trading goes against a long-standing industry maxim: miners don’t trade. For much of the last two decades, investors wanted producers’ shares to track soaring metals prices and resisted anything that might get in the way.

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Miners Set to Spend $11 Billion in Search of the Next Jackpot – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 7, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Miners and investors are poring over satellite images, tracking drilling rigs and quizzing company executives for clues on whether the sector’s heavyweights are close to a new jackpot discovery.

As Rio Tinto Group searches Australia’s Great Sandy Desert for copper and Anglo American Plc scours a 19,000-square kilometer package of land in Brazil, they’re among the mining giants stoking excitement over potential reserves that’ll replenish project pipelines and overturn the industry’s lack of recent success in unearthing deposits.

It’s part of a broader global push across the industry that’s driving a revival in exploration spending on key metals, forecast to top $11 billion after hitting a low of about $9 billion in 2016, according to Melbourne-based MinEx Consulting Ltd.

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AngloGold Chairman Warns South Africa on ‘Reckless’ Mining Rules – by Felix Njini, Sam Mkokeli and Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg News – July 19, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

South Africa risks driving away new investment and crippling its mining sector if “reckless” new rules are implemented, according to AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. Chairman Sipho Pityana.

The latest Mining Charter, which is aimed at sharing the benefits of the country’s mineral wealth more equally among South Africans, doesn’t provide solutions to the industry’s challenges and will make it difficult for companies to buy and sell assets, Pityana said Thursday.

Much of South Africa’s mining industry is struggling with rising costs and faltering metal prices that have forced producers to slash thousands of jobs and shrink production.

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De Beers playing poker with perception by launching Lightbox? – by David McKay (MiningMx.com – June 19, 2018)

https://www.miningmx.com/

ANGLO American’s 85%-owned De Beers may have pulled off a strategic coup by unveiling plans to launch a new brand of synthetic diamonds. These are the stones that are ‘grown’ artificially in a laboratory and against which the diamond giant has previously fought a marketing campaign.

In fact, the group spent some $140m in 2017 alone promoting naturally occurring diamonds which it says truly represent the profound emotions that inspire wedding bands and other anniversary gifts. Now, however, De Beers has performed an about-turn by unveiling its Lightbox range of synthetics. What could it portend?

According to analysts, this is not really the acknowledgement of diamond synthetics that it appears (although De Beers has its own line of synthetic diamonds which are used primarily for industrial purposes). Instead, it’s a clever commercial ploy aimed at better controlling the pricing and proliferation of lab-grown diamonds by other producers.

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Exclusive – Anglo American wins permits to explore for copper in north Brazil – by Alexandra Alper (Reuters U.K. – June 18, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Miner Anglo American Plc (AAL.L) clinched hundreds of permits this month to explore for copper in a remote part of northern Brazil, Brazilian authorities said, as the growing electric vehicle market and a scarcity of shovel-ready mining projects fuels demand for the metal.

A major copper find, if confirmed, would cheer the mining industry which is eying a looming shortfall for the red metal, prized as an electricity conductor, after years of shrunken exploration budgets meant little in the way of promising new discoveries.

In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, Anglo said it was too soon to make claims about the viability of the project. But the company confirmed it had received permission to explore for copper in Brazil’s Mato Grosso and Para states where it had not yet begun studies.

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Anglo looks to sell Peru copper stake to Japanese firms: sources – by Clara Denina and Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – May 17, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Anglo American (AAL.L) is likely to sell up to 30 percent of its multi-billion dollar Peruvian copper project Quellaveco to Japanese entities, including Mitsubishi, which already own part of it, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The London-listed miner said in its 2017 financial results it is seeking to cut its 82 percent interest in Quellaveco, which could produce 225,000 tonnes of copper annually, to between 50 and 70 percent.

The sources said it has hired investment banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to help with the sale, which could be announced within the next two months.

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AngloGold Upbeat on Africa Even as Mine Uncertainty Persists – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – May 8, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. remains upbeat on its African assets even as new mining rules threaten profits at two of the company’s key mines.

The world’s third-largest gold producer is mired in disputes with the governments of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo over law changes that raise taxes in the countries, where AngloGold gets the bulk of its African metal from. Still, those challenges will probably “eventually be corrected,” outgoing Chief Executive Officer Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said.

“Storms do come and go – we have seen that happen in other jurisdictions, not just in Africa, even in Latin America,” Venkatakrishnan said in a phone interview.

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INTERVIEW-Vedanta chairman told Anglo not to sell South African assets – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters U.K. – April 30, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, April 30 (Reuters) – The chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, who is also Anglo American’s biggest shareholder, said on Monday he had convinced Anglo not to sell off key assets in South Africa.

Indian industrialist Anil Agarwal has an almost 20 percent stake in Anglo through his family trust Volcan Investments and has played down speculation that he is seeking a tie-up with Anglo.

But in an interview with Reuters, Agarwal made it clear that he has not been a passive shareholder. “I always believed that South Africa has a lot of potential, and Anglo management may not have always believed that … and they wanted to sell some assets,” he said.

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After setbacks, Anglo American counting on turnaround for Minas-Rio mine – by Alexandra Alper and Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.K. – April 17, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Two leaks in a month, a 90-day outage and $58 million in fines is not enough to temper Anglo American’s (AAL.L) ambition for its long-delayed, multi-billion dollar Minas-Rio iron ore mine in Brazil.

Purchased at the height of the commodities boom a decade ago for $5.5 billion, Anglo American was once counting on Minas-Rio to produce 26.5 million tons of iron ore by 2016. The mine’s strength is its high-grade iron ore that commands a premium as the world’s biggest commodity consumer China seeks to cut pollution.

Minas-Rio is Anglo American’s biggest development project, and its bet on the future of iron ore, but so far it only accounts for a small percentage of its overall profits as it is still in ramp-up phase.

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Anglo Says Cleaning Up Mining Will Earn It Billions in Profit – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – March 13, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Mining is a dirty business, but Anglo American Plc Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani says it doesn’t have to be. The miner of everything from copper to diamonds to iron ore is overhauling its sustainability targets, and predicts it can earn an extra $9 billion through 2030 by improving the way it mines and boosting relations with governments and communities.

In an industry that rips up massive areas of pristine landscape while consuming valuable water and pumping out dust and pollution, companies that don’t become better corporate citizens will face higher costs, mounting opposition and lose out on new deposits, Cutifani said in an interview.

“We need access to resources,” he said. “If you don’t have good relationships you don’t get access to ground; if you don’t have access to ground you can’t develop a mine.”

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COLUMN-For coal miners, it’s time to exit or get rich – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – February 25, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 26 – It seems coal miners are adopting one of two disparate strategies, either exit the business in a highly visible way to buff up your climate credentials, or sit tight, keep as quiet as possible and rake in the cash.

An example of the public exit from the business is South32 , the Perth-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton which is in the process of selling out of its thermal coal assets in South Africa.

Mike Fraser, South32’s president and chief operating office for South Africa, told Reuters earlier this month that the company was aiming to sell its coal assets because it “did not believe in the commodity.” It would also be better if the coal mines were majority-owned by black investors, Fraser said.

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Leaner Anglo boosts earnings, but miner’s share rally stalls -by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – February 22, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Anglo American said on Thursday annual earnings rose 45 percent and net debt halved as the miner rebounded from a commodities slump and said it had become a fundamentally different business focused on productivity.

All the major miners have reported a recovery from the 2015-16 crash in commodities prices, announcing increased returns for shareholders and lower debt, while promising to avoid the spending sprees that piled on supplies and helped to end the last boom.

Anglo American and Glencore, which on Wednesday said its results were the strongest yet, saw their shares fall the furthest in the downturn and have rallied the most as commodity markets have recovered.

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Anglo Sees Momentum on S. Africa Policy: Africa Mining Update – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Felix Njini and Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – February 5, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Mining executives, investors and government ministers are meeting in drought-hit Cape Town for the African Mining Indaba, the continent’s biggest gathering of one of its most vital industries.

Recent multiyear highs for many commodities have the world’s biggest miners swimming in cash and new demand from electric vehicles mean once-overlooked metals like lithium and cobalt are grabbing the spotlight.

But it’s not all blue skies, as the industry grapples with regulatory changes and uncertainty in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, as well as host South Africa.

Here are the latest developments, updated throughout the day. (Time-stamps are local time in Cape Town.)

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Gahcho Kué adds vim to Anglo 2017 output numbers despite cuts – by David McKay (MiningMX – January 25, 2018)

http://www.miningmx.com/

ANGLO American turned in a robust fourth quarter production performance which took full year production on a copper equivalent basis some 5% higher compared to 2016, largely owing to good numbers at Kumba Iron Ore and De Beers, its 85% subsidiary.

Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, said the year-on-year improvement was despite cutting platinum and metallurgical coal output. “The ramp up of Gahcho Kué and Grosvenor mines made positive contributions to our production profile in 2017, and a strong performance from Sishen resulted in an 8% increase in production from Kumba Iron Ore,” he said in a statement.

Gahcho Kué is the De Beers’ newly commissioned diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It reached nameplate production in the second quarter of the financial year.

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Amplats reaches deal with S.African tribal leader in community fund row – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters Africa – January 9, 2018)

https://af.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African tribal leader has agreed to a more transparent structure for a 175 million rand ($14 million) community trust funded by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), a move that aims to curb unrest around the firm’s most profitable mine.

The changes relate to the Mapela Trust, which was set up to fund development projects in communities around Amplats’ Mogalakwena operation, the world’s largest open-pit platinum mine and the Anglo American unit’s main cash spinner.

The structure of the fund has proved a flashpoint, with local communities saying the way cash was spent has not transparent and too much authority was given to the local chief, known as Kgoshi, to determine where money was invested.

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