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Anglo American says tech overhaul to boost productivity by 30 percent – by Dave Sherwood and Fabian Cambero (Reuters U.S. – April 8, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Anglo American, one of the world’s top miners, says productivity could jump by as much as a third at its Chilean copper mines within three years as it rolls out new technologies, the head of the company’s copper division said in an interview.

Copper chief Hennie Faul said Anglo American was re-tooling its smaller, lower output El Soldado mine in central Chile this year for use as an experimental technology center, allowing it to conduct full-scale testing of new products and ideas in real-time.

“This is not just incremental. It can have increases in productivity of between 20 to 30 percent,” he said, adding the technologies were still in the testing stage and that their effectiveness would vary by deposit.

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Anglo’s Cutifani expresses confidence in iron ore tailings technology at Minas Rio – by David McKay (MiningMX – February 12, 2019)

MiningMX

THE Brumadinho dam disaster in Brazil on January 25 could have some far-reaching consequences, but Anglo American CEO, Mark Cutifani, said that the impact on the group’s own activities in the country would be limited.

Brumadinho is the place where Brazil’s state-owned mining company, Vale, operates its Feijao iron ore mine which, in turn, is part of the Paraopeba complex. The complex produced 26.2 million tonnes (Mt) of iron ore in Vale’s 2017 financial year, representing 7% of its total output.

It’s the second major tailings dam burst disaster in just over two years in Brazil. In the previous event, a tailings facility burst at Samarco – an operation owned by Vale in joint venture with BHP. Some 19 lives were lost.

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Mining’s Biggest Jobs Are Up for Grabs. Here Are the Contenders – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Jack Farchy and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – January 16, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Who will lead BHP, Anglo American and Glencore into the next decade?

Some of the mining world’s top executives are starting to plan their departures, driving speculation about who will lead their companies into the next decade.

The changing of the guard raises the prospect of a strategic shift, as the industry searches for ways to enthuse investors after a belt-tightening era characterized by asset sales and cost control. Here, based on conversations with executives, investors and industry decision makers, are some of the key names to watch.

BHP Group

There has been near-constant speculation for years around the future of BHP Group CEO Andrew Mackenzie. By 2017, the chatter was so loud that the new chairman’s first meeting with the press was preceded by a statement backing his CEO.

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Anglo American begins quest to unearth next CEO – by Clara Denina and Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.K. – January 15, 2019)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Anglo American (AAL.L) has promoted a section head it considers to have CEO potential, focusing its attention on internal talent as it begins searching for a successor to the man who steered the mining company through the 2015-16 commodities price slump.

CEO Mark Cutifani has won plaudits for his stewardship since taking the helm in 2013, though his strategic ability has been questioned in some quarters despite Anglo shares climbing around 12 percent last year, outperforming London-listed peers including Glencore (GLEN.L) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L)(RIO.AX).

Analysts say that Cutifani deserves credit for driving efficiency but some remain critical of a decision to halt debt-reducing asset disposals, even though this helped the company to benefit from the upturn in prices for commodities such as iron ore and coal.

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Anglo American management shake-up sees Brazil-based CEO replaced – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 3, 2019)

http://www.mining.com/

Global miner Anglo American (LON:AAL) announced Thursday changes at the top that will see Ruben Fernandes, chief executive officer of the company in Brazil, being replaced by mining veteran Wilfred (Bill) Bruijn, effective March 1.

Fernandes, who has led Anglo’s iron ore and nickel interests in the South American country for almost three years, will become CEO of Base Metals. That position is currently held by Duncan Wanblad, who will now focus solely on his role as Group Director of Strategy and Business Development, the group said in a statement.

During his management, Fernandes dealt with an eight-month stoppage at the company’s giant Minas Rio iron ore mine, located in the Brazilian resource-rich state of Minas Gerais. Operations there were halted in March last year, following the discovery of leaks in a pipeline that carried ore to a port in Rio de Janeiro for export.

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Anglo forecasts copper, diamonds and platinum to lift output – by Noor Zainab Hussain and Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – December 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

BENGALURU/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Anglo American said on Tuesday its overall production will rise by more than previously expected between 2018 and 2021, while this year’s costs are forecast to be lower.

Anglo said in an update to investors and analysts that 2018 production will be 2 percent higher than its previous forecast, driven by increases in copper, diamonds and platinum group metals, while costs will be 5 percent below earlier guidance.

The company, whose products also include coal, nickel and iron ore said it expected a 3 percent rise in production in 2019 and a further 5 percent boost in both 2020 and 2021, lifting its share price, which was one of the biggest gainers on London’s blue chip index.

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Anglo Finds Returns Outweigh Risks as It Renews Africa Focus – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – November 7, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — Anglo American Plc is going where larger rivals fear to tread, returning to its African roots to tap mineral assets with compelling returns.

The storied mining company, founded by Ernest Oppenheimer in Johannesburg a century ago, is devoting a third of its exploration budget to the continent, including searching for copper and cobalt in Angola and Zambia. In South Africa, it’s investing in platinum, diamond and iron-ore mines that are spitting out cash.

The London-based company is betting that Africa can deliver a portfolio of new ore bodies, even as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group largely shun the continent and focus on returning cash to shareholders. It’s a reversal of Anglo’s almost two-decade retreat from a continent that long weighed on its shares, but the miner retains a higher tolerance for risk in what used to be its backyard.

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Copper mines put Anglo American on track for strong 2018 – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day – October 23, 2018)

https://www.businesslive.co.za/

After a standout performance in its copper division in the September quarter and positive performances across the bulk of its other businesses so far in 2018, Anglo American lined itself up for a strong 2018 by meeting its production targets.

Anglo, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, reported quarterly falls in diamond, iron ore and metallurgical coal production for the three months to end-September compared to a year ago, but these were offset by an outstanding performance from its copper mines.

“Strong operational performance at our copper assets delivered a 17% increase in production, more than offsetting planned lower volumes at De Beers and the impact of rail infrastructure constraints at Kumba in the first half of the year,” Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani said, referring to JSE-listed Kumba Iron Ore, Africa’s largest iron ore miner.

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The Real Cash Cow in Mining Isn’t Metals. It’s Bad Old Coal – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – October 10, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

For all the bullish talk about metals of the future, miners are making some of their biggest profits from heavy-industry stalwart coal.

Base metals from copper to zinc have tumbled this year, caught up as a proxy for trade fears and emerging market jitters. Meanwhile, coal has ground steadily upwards, supported by strong demand from top commodities user China, and is trading near the highest in more than six years.

That’s translating into big paydays for producers. Glencore Plc is in touching distance of seeing its coal mining profits eclipse copper earnings this year for the first time since it sold shares in London in 2011.

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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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