Anglo American "Not Specifically" Considering De Beers Sale
February 11, 24
(IDEX Online) - Anglo American says it is keeping an eye on the De Beers' balance sheet, but isn't actively considering a sell-off at present.
The company said in its latest production report, published on 8 February, that it was "currently assessing its carrying value of De Beers" - meaning the value of its assets.
It acknowledged that De Beers was loss-making in the second half of 2023 (rough sales FY2023 were down 36 per cent to $3.63bn) and said that despite recent improvements, the prospects for economic growth remained uncertain and it may take some time for rough diamond demand to fully recover.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad (pictured) said a sale of De Beers - the subject of much speculation - was "not specifically" something it was considering.
He did, however, suggest the business could be restructured, possibly by separating its southern African assets from those elsewhere.
In another interview, with Mining Indaba TV, at a the Indaba mining conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Wanblad said: "You live and survive through cycles. They come and they go, but when they're here they can be very, very, disruptive.
"And we've got a number of coalescing elements in two of our commodities, diamonds and PGMs (Platinum Group Metals) that are putting quite a lot of pressure into the business at his part of the cycle."
De Beers reportedly slashed rough diamond prices across the board by at least 10 per cent at its latest Sight. Total sales for Cycle 1 were $370m, almost three times higher than the $130m achieved in the final cycle of 2023, but well down on sales for the same period last year, of $454m.
Screengrab courtesy Mining Indaba TV.