Anglo American expects its De Beers diamond business to record an impairment amid declining diamond sales.
The London-listed miner announced Thursday that it will review De Beers’ value as it looks to exit the business, citing persistently weak diamond demand. Last year, Anglo reduced De Beers’ book value by $1.6 billion to $7.6 billion.
De Beers rough diamond production decreased by 26% to 5.8 million carats in 2024, compared to the previous year. The 2025 production guidance has been revised to 20–23 million carats, down from the previous estimate of 30–33 million carats. Anglo anticipates a marginal loss for the diamond business in 2024.
The mining giant put the world’s largest diamond producer up for sale last year as part of its portfolio simplification following a tentative takeover bid from BHP (ASX: BHP).
Anglo chief executive officer Duncan Wanblad stated earlier this week that the company plans to exit De Beers by the end of the year.
In November, Anglo announced agreements to sell its steelmaking coal business for up to $4.9 billion, with the Peabody transaction expected to close by the third quarter of 2025.
Additionally, the company completed a second bookbuild offering of Anglo American Platinum shares.
2024 production
On Thursday, the company reported that all of its businesses met their full-year production guidance.
It produced 773 kt of copper in 2024, aligning with its 730-790 kt guidance range, with the Quellaveco mine in Peru achieving its strongest quarter of the year in Q4.
“Our forward production guidance is unchanged in copper with growth in 2026 driven by higher grades in Chile, with this production level then maintained in 2027,” said Wanblad.
“We continue to set up the copper business for growth in subsequent years with the resumption of the smaller plant at Los Bronces and through debottlenecking at Collahuasi,” he said.
Anglo’s Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil set a record, producing 25 million tonnes for the year, contributing to the company’s total iron ore production of 60.8 million tonnes in 2024.
“The key focus for the market has been on copper and production came ahead of expectations, with a strong result from Los Bronces, and guidance for FY25 remains unchanged,” RBC Capital Markets analysts commented in a note.
“However, not much good news beyond that with weak realised pricing in both iron ore and copper.”
Anglo American shares rose more than 5% in London trading following the results. The company has a market cap of £32.9 billion ($40.9 billion).
Source: Mining.com