Anglo American chief executive Duncan Wanblad has ruled out the possibility of a "flip-flop" on the group's intention to sell its 85% stake in De Beers saying the diamond miner no longer fits in its portfolio.
MiningMx reports that the diversified company head expressed his "more hopeful" outlook regarding the possibility of a sale in light of China's stimulus.
He told the Financial Times Mining Summit in London last week that the primary reason impeding the diamond market was the low demand for diamonds from China.
Wanblad expressed his optimism that the sale of De Beers will be less complex than it might have been due to the long-awaited stimulus.
Although there was “a real risk” that the diamond market would not recover next year, there was “a low probability” Anglo would be holding De Beers into 2026, which was beyond its self-imposed sale deadline.
“The plan is to get it done and there is no way De Beers [fits] in the [Anglo] portfolio,” said Wanblad. “There is no flip-flop possibility.”
Regarding a potential delay in the sale of the business, he stated, "We are talking about a couple of months."
Meanwhile, Wanblad said Anglo was on course to sell its metallurgical coal mines in Australia by early next year.
The Grosvenor mine, where damage sustained in a fire in June further necessitated this process.
“We are now in round two and we have a handful of selected tenders that will take us through to the end,” said Wanblad of the metallurgical mines.
“So I hope with a fair wind in commodity prices we will get to a signing by the end of this year or early next year.”
Anglo suspended production at Grosvenor on June 30 following an underground "gas ignition" the previous day.
Wanblad said the incident caused Anglo to "delay" the sale of the mine, which had been flagged in May, even though all employees were safely evacuated.
Anglo has also cleared the path for the demerger of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).
The demerger was "on pace" for the middle of 2025, according to Wanblad, who also noted that a recent R7.2 billion ($420 million) bookbuild in the platinum unit's shares had garnered interest from both South African and international investors.
“The bookbuild a few weeks ago demonstrated it [Amplats] is a fabulous business …. the primary purpose was to really limit and mitigate some of flowback [of shares] as a result of the demerger,” he said. “It is on track and we are hoping to get done by the middle of next year.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
