[miningmx.com] – THE ramp-up of Anglo American’s Minas Rio iron ore mine in 2015 had helped offset lower output at its Kumba Iron Ore subsidiary, said Reuters citing the UK group’s full-year production report published today.
Output at Kumba, where more than 2,500 jobs would be lost amid a restructuring of its Sishen Iron Ore mine, totalled 44.9 million tonnes (mt) last year. This was a 7% decline from 2014, while Minas Rio’s production rose to 9.2mt from 700,000 tonnes.
Anglo CEO, Mark Cutifani, last year identified Minas Rio as a possible non-core asset that could be sold as the firm sought to accelerate its restructuring programme, aimed at increasing free cash generation.
“Our view is that it has to be core [to keep it]. At this point in time it [Minas Rio] will probably struggle,” said Cutifani of the mine.
“It [iron ore] is in a tough commodity against very aggressive competition. It is not in the front line of assets that we consider priority one now. It has the potential to do better, but it will take an additional 12 months,” he said. The value of Minas Rio, which is based in Brazil, has been written off for about $9bn.
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