BHP warns Australian mining not ready for low-cost competitors
The boom in demand from China’s industrialization is now “past the period of aggressive growth,” BHP’s Australia President said.
Mark Cutifani (Screenshot via YouTube)
Less than a week after Anglo American (LON:AAL) boss Mark Cutifani told The Wall Street Journal he was “very open” to takeover offers, he has announced that a big corporate break-up à la BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) is definitively not in his books.
Instead Cutifani, who became chief executive in April last year, told FT.com (subs. required) he prefers a “piece-by-piece” asset sale.
Anglo’s chief, who has been implementing drastic cost-cutting measures for a bit over a year, is already in the process of getting rid of six of the group’s South African platinum mines.
The miner also struck a deal with building materials supplier Lafarge to sell its 50% stake in their Lafarge-Tarmac joint venture, for US$1.5 billion.
Among other assets that could be sold are a stake in its Quellaveco copper project in Peru, but analysts agree the company is more likely to try finding a partner to go ahead with mine construction.
Anglo American, for now still the largest platinum producer, also controls copper, coal, iron ore, nickel and diamond mines and has a market value of about $36 billion.
Comments
miket
Owning these platinum mines is a bit like having a gangrenous limb: the sooner the limb is amputated, the quicker the body will recover and become healthy again. The longer the wait to remove the limb, the more danger that the entire body will become infected and die. Get rid of the dross NOW.