Anglo American is reportedly planning to sell its $1bn worth of copper assets in Chile by the end of this year.
According to media reports, assets up for sale could include the Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines, and Anglo’s 50.1%-owned El Soldado mine and Charges smelter.
The sale of smaller mines is part of the company’s plan to raise profits from 8% in June this year to 15% by 2016, and to focus on larger copper assets in the country, which includes the 50.1%-owned Los Bronces mine and 44%-owned Collahuasi operation.
Anglo American spokesman said: “We are currently evaluating the optimal structure for our copper portfolio in Chile and will be engaging with a range of our stakeholders over the coming months as part of this evaluation process.”
This latest plan to offload assets comes months after Anglo put four of its platinum mines and two joint ventures in South Africa on the market in July. The company sold its 50% stake in Lafarge Tarmac to Lafarge for around $1.5bn in early August.
In June, the company announced plans to sell its oldest platinum mines in South Africa, nickel assets in Brazil and copper mines in Chile, with the aim of raising $4bn to overcome the ZAR$11.27bn ($1.06bn) loss incurred due to the five-month strike by mine workers in South Africa.
One week ago, Anglo received a licence from Brazil’s environmental agency, Ibama, to start production at the Minas-Rio iron ore mine and processing plant in the Minas Gerais state in Brazil.
