Anglo American's Quellaveco project gets $600m boost
Anglo American partners with Mitsubishi to get funding for Peruvian mining project
Avoiding a repeat of mistakes at its $13bn iron-ore mine in Brazil, Anglo American has reached agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation to lift the Japanese firm’s stake in a Peruvian copper project at a cost of $600m. In line with comments from CEO Mark Cutifani, Anglo is not wholly exposed to the $5bn-$6bn bill to build a mine and processing plant at the Quellaveco project, with Mitsubishi raising its stake to 40% from 18.1%. Cutifani has long spoken of looking for joint ventures or partnerships to develop big projects within the company after running up a bill of at least $13bn to buy and build the Minas Rio iron-ore project in Brazil — an asset that has yet to be brought to account and which put enormous strain on Anglo’s balance sheet. Anglo ran up net debt of $12.9bn by 2014, prompting a sale of assets and a restructuring of the business.
The tail end of that process coincided with an upturn in commodity prices, bringing net debt down to $4.5bn by the end of 2017, halting t...
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