ANGLO American today announced the sale of its remaining steelmaking coal assets in Australia, a critical cog in a restructuring unveiled two years ago this month.
Anglo said Dhilmar Limited, a privately held UK firm, had agreed to buy the asets for $3.86bn of which $2.3bn would be in upfront cash. The balance would be settled through a price-linked earn out.
Anglo would plough the proceeds into net debt which stood at $8.57bn as of December 31.
“This agreement represents another major step in the simplification of our portfolio ahead of completing our merger with Teck,” said Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo. Speaking in April, Wanblad said the Teck deal – announced in September last year – was scheduled for completion by March 2027 at the latest.
Including the previously announced sale of Jellinbah East and Lake Vermont operations in November 2024, Anglo has earned $4.9bn from metallurgical coal mine sales.
Anglo unveiled a historic restructuring on May 14 2024 in which it would sell its platinum and diamond assets in addition to steelmaking coal. This was shortly after BHP made its first, and ultimately unsuccessful, bid for the company.
Of that restructuring, only De Beers – in which Anglo has an 85% stake – is left unsold. Anglo said it has entered into detailed discussions with a short-list of buyers which are said to include the Botswana government, which already has a 15% stake in the business.
Selling De Beers is fraught, however. Anglo has downgraded the value of the business twice in in the last two years, last valuing its stake in De Beers at $2.3bn from $4.1bn previously. “Anglo American is committed to divesting De Beers and we continue to progress a formal sale process and expect to provide an update through the course of 2026,” said Wanblad last month in notes to the group’s first quarter production update.
The sale of the metallurgical coal assets has not been a cinch either. Anglo’s initial deal with US coal major Peabody for $3.8bn fell apart after an underground fire which closed Anglo’s Moranbah South mine in March 2025.
According to Wanblad the Moranbah South mine has now transitioned to normal longwall operations and is now progressing through a ramp-up.
He added that “significant progress” had also been made at the Grosvenor mine since permission to re-enter the underground area was given by the regulator in August last year. “The re-entry and rectification process is in the final stages and operational readiness assessments are complete. Longwall production is targeted to recommence by late 2027 – subject to investment approval,” he said in April.
