Anglo American sells coal assets to Peabody for $3.8bn
The move is the first of four big asset divestments Anglo announced in May, after it fought off a $49bn hostile takeover attempt from BHP.
The South African mining industry has suffered a double blow after under-pressure miners Anglo American and Lonmin unveiled 9,000 job cuts between them. Around 4,000 roles are to go in Anglo’s iron ore division while platinum producer Lonmin has shed 5,077 workers since the end of last year.
Crashing commodity prices have forced miners to cut costs across the world. In December Anglo American unveiled plans to shrink its workforce from 135,000 to 50,000 by 2017, as it looks to sell off or close around 60pc of its assets.
The cuts will heap pressure on the South African government, which is battling an unemployment rate of 25pc. Around 440,000 people are employed in the country’s mining industry.
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