Anglo American's steelmaking coal portfolio consists mainly of an 88% interest in the Moranbah North and Grosvenor joint ventures and others.
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Anglo American is selling its steelmaking coal business in Australia for up to $3.88 billion (R67.4bn) in cash, as it continues to simplify its portfolio ahead of the merger with Canada-based Teck Resources.
The group said Monday it has agreed to sell its portfolio of steelmaking coal mines in Australia to Dhilmar, a relatively new UK-registered mining company that makes investments across a range of commodities, in surface and underground operations.
Anglo announced a major restructuring in May 2024 that involved the sale of its diamond, platinum, and steelmaking coal assets to focus on copper. This was shortly after BHP made its first and ultimately unsuccessful bid for Anglo. Of the restructuring, only the 85% held De Beers still needs to be sold.
An attempt to sell the Australian coal mines failed last year when the bidder, Peabody Resources, a US and Australia coal producer, withdrew from the $3.78bn deal after underground fires and explosions at Anglo’s Grosvenor and Moranbah North mines.
Anglo said it continues with arbitration with Peabody, as it does not believe the accidents were material enough to count as reasons to pull out of a November 2024 agreement.
The Dhilmar transaction comprises an upfront $2.3bn cash payment and a price-linked earnout of up to $1.58bn. Anglo American will use cash proceeds to reduce debt.
"Dhilmar's leadership brings considerable experience of operating major mining assets, including in steelmaking coal, in Southeast Asia and Canada. We will work with the Dhilmar team and with our workforce, local communities, government, customers, and partners to ensure a successful transition," said Anglo’s CEO Duncan Wanblad in a statement.
“Through this transaction, we will complete our exit from steelmaking coal, delivering cash proceeds of up to $4.9bn, given the prior completion of the sale of our interest in the Jellinbah mine for about $1bn."
Anglo American's steelmaking coal portfolio consists mainly of an 88% interest in the Moranbah North and Grosvenor joint ventures; a 70% interest in the Capcoal joint venture; an 86,36% interest in the Roper Creek joint venture; a 51% interest in the Dawson joint venture, Dawson South joint venture, Dawson South Exploration joint venture, and the Theodore South joint venture; and a 50% interest in the Moranbah South joint venture.
In 2025, Dhilmar acquired the Éléonore gold mine in Canada from Newmont Corporation. Dhilmar is led by Alexander Ramlie, who, in 2016, acquired the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Indonesia from Newmont, an online search showed.
Ramlie is a commissioner of Amman Mineral Internasional, which operates one of the largest copper and gold mines in Indonesia. Amman Mineral went public in 2023 in a $710m IPO, the largest in the country in the year.
For the fourth quarter to December 31, Anglo American said steelmaking coal production fell by 15% to 2.1 million tons, primarily due to the sale of Jellinbah in November 2024 and lower production at Dawson due to wet weather and mine sequencing.
Anglo's share price nudged up 0.3% to R841,60 on the JSE Monday afternoon, a price that was a sharp 64% higher than a year before.
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