GLENCORE might lodge its interest in Anglo American’s Australian metallurgical coal mines should their sale to Peabody Energy not be consummated.
Last week Peabody CEO Jim Grech raised doubts over his firm’s $3.8bn agreement to buy the mines. This is owing to fire damage at Moranbah North which is one of the mines Anglo wants to sell. Said Grech: “You are going to have probable de-rates of the facility going forward because of future operating conditions”.
As a result, it’s possible the sides might go into arbitration, although Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo told Miningmx on July 31 that he was highly reticent for the deal to go back to an auction. He would be “practical and pragmatic” on the deal, he added.
Asked on Wednesday at Glencore’s interim results presentation about whether the group would be interested in bidding for the mines if they became available, CEO Gary Nagle commented: “At the moment that transaction is signed and sealed, so let that play out as it plays out and we’ll see what happens.”
“If it doesn’t work out, we’ll see what happens later,” he said.
“I’d really like for this deal to conclude with Peabody,” Wanblad said in an interview.
“In the event Peabody elected not to complete, I continue to hold the view that it would be wrong,” he said. “We don’t believe there is a discount, and secondly, we had a really strong auction. If we have to take it back to auction, it wouldn’t be my first prize.”
Anglo was incurring about $55m a month in keeping Moranbah North on hold ($45m) and Grosvenor ($10m), another mine closed following a fire later in 2024.
Wanblad said the group would “hopefully get a restart later this year, early next year, on Moranbah”. There was also “good progress” at Grosvenor. “So in the next couple of weeks, hopefully we’ll get the permission to go back underground,” he said.
