Anglo American Stock price
Compare with Peer Group
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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Is Anglo American a Top Scorer Stock based on the Dividend, High-Growth-Investing or Leverman Strategy?
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = £42.23b | Revenue (TTM) = £14.61b
Market Cap = £42.23b | Estimated Revenue = £15.99b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = £48.65b | Revenue (TTM) = £14.61b
Enterprise Value = £48.65b | Forward Revenue = £15.99b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
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Anglo American Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
27 Analysts have issued a Anglo American forecast:
Analyst Opinions
27 Analysts have issued a Anglo American forecast:
Anglo American Events
Past Events
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JUL
30
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about 2 months ago
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FEB
20
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
7 months ago
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SEP
9
Anglo American plc, Teck Resources Limited - M&A Call
about one year ago
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StocksGuide Free
Anglo American — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Okay. Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our half year results. And as some of you know by now, over the years, my tradition is to kick off the full year results. I don't normally come at half year, but there are a couple of reasons why I wanted to introduce today, and I'll come back to those. But as ever, let's start with safety. And I must say how delighted I am and all of the Board are for the excellent progress that we're making and the safety improvements, which are -- have been coming through in the last couple of years quite strongly. I know this will continue to be at the top of mind of Duncan and his team as he moves on and as he takes over indeed the helm at Anglo Teck in due course.
I'm also very pleased, as I hope you are, that with the solid performance of the current business and the benefits of our major portfolio restructuring, which is starting to come through in the numbers. So returning now, why do I want to introduce this session, albeit briefly? Two reasons, really. Firstly, if things go to plan, which I'm pretty confident they will, the close of Anglo American's merger with Teck to form Anglo Teck will happen. And this could mean, therefore, if the timing is as we expect, that it will indeed be my last chance to introduce. So that's one reason.
The second reason is I did want to say just a couple of things about Anglo Teck, an enormously exciting endeavor, which is going to bring really strong benefits to all of our respective shareholders and eventually collective ones and all of our wider stakeholder groups. I have spent 9 years as Chair at Anglo, and I will be handing over that baton to my oppo at Teck, Sheila Murray, and on the closure of the merger, of course, not before. But I'd like to say just a couple of things about Duncan, our CEO, who will become CEO of Anglo Teck. Now, in him, we have a CEO, which I can tell you is utterly determined to deliver all that he has laid out for us and will set out to deliver over the next several years and indeed delivering on all of the cost and the industrial synergies, which we have already announced to you.
Post closure, I'll be watching from the sidelines as he does that. And I will, of course, he'll be ably supported by John as the CFO; and Jonathan Price, who will join the -- as previously announced -- Duncan's executive team. That's all from me. Thank you very much for your continued interest in all that Anglo American is doing. Let me now hand over to Duncan and then John to take us through the results today. Duncan?
Thank you, Stuart. I am indeed very determined to deliver this. All right. Good morning, everybody, for those that I haven't seen outside. It does, of course, continue to be a very busy time here at Anglo American. And I think the overall headline is that we have made yet more progress on our operational, our financial and our strategic plans over the last 6 months. We delivered another period of solid operational stability. And that translated into operating results being on plan across the business despite a number of external challenges, particularly related to weather. Market conditions were pretty tough in diamonds, but De Beers delivered a very robust operational performance, and our Steelmaking Coal business continues to make great progress with higher production rates now bedding in at Moranbah.
We also made progress on 2 of the lowest capital intensity copper opportunities of scale in the industry, and we received final approvals for the Los Bronces/Andina joint mine plan and have now advanced early-stage preparatory work for the integration of Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca. In terms of our strategic plans, we took a big step forward on the outstanding portfolio work with the announcement of the sale of our Steelmaking Coal business to Dhilmar for up to $3.9 billion. We continue to pursue the sale of De Beers, and I'll come back to that a little bit later on in the presentation.
The planning for our merger with Teck has been moving ahead well in parallel. And once we receive our final approvals, the 2 companies will come together to become a strong global mining champion with a compelling set of lower-cost, long-life copper assets alongside high-quality iron ore and zinc. This will be a company with a track record and the resources to grow the supply of the metals and the minerals that the world is counting on for decades ahead, led, of course, by copper.
Now safety remains the foundation of absolutely everything that we do at Anglo American. While our injury frequency rates have stayed at record lows, I believe that there is still room to bring them down further by focusing our activities on planning, raising our standards and above all, getting the critical actions right. This comes down to leaders being visibly pleasant and engaged on the ground, and we're working to embed our safety culture even more deeply with more active control checks out in the field. Now on safety, we can absolutely never be complacent. No matter how good the results, there is always room for further improvement.
Turning to sustainability. We launched our updated sustainability strategy and targets for the simplified portfolio in February of this year, and we're now embedding that strategy and the businesses are making good progress to delivery against their plans. We are beginning to start to see now the benefits of a model that balances group level ambition and direction with locally relevant targets tailored to the priorities of each of our underlying businesses. This approach allows us to deliver consistent outcomes at scale while creating value and driving tangible impact and value on the ground in our countries of operation. We are now 3 years on from moving the accountability of our assets performance closer to the site. And the evolution of that operating model is an important driver in consistently achieving our production targets.
We also kept costs under control despite inflationary pressures stemming from the knock-on impacts of events in the Middle East, and John is going to unpack those costs for us just a little bit later on today. The Copper business produced 344,000 tonnes in the first half, and we're bang on track for our full year guidance of 700,000 to 760,000 tonnes with higher volumes half-on-half to come from both Collahuasi and Quellaveco. Los Bronces was a real highlight for us. The restart of that second plant has added profitable tonnes and the mine is gaining more flexibility with each quarter.
In May, the permit for the desalination plant at Collahuasi was set aside by an environmental tribunal 5 years after it had been granted. Production, however, from Collahuasi has not been affected because we are current -- because we do currently have access to alternative water sources. We are hopeful that a review of the environmental assessment services or the SEA's decision will allow us to restart the ramp-up of that plant later on this year. We do continue to work very hard with the Chilean authorities to make that happen. Still at Collahuasi, the team is managing the variability as we transition through the lower grade and oxidized stockpiles. And indeed, the recoveries have improved in the second quarter of the year.
The mine is on course to access the fresh ore from the fourth quarter, which will be an inflection point after 2 years of limited flexibility. Now next year, the mine plan is characterized by much higher grade benches, but also some more complex faulting that we will need to navigate. But the mine has worked through this many times before, and we remain confident in our '27 and our '28 copper guidance. Beyond that, this ore body has so much potential, and I'm going to come back to that a little bit later on in the presentation.
Quellaveco remains the leading contributor of cash flow to the group, and it is great news to be able to report that we have now paid back the initial investment that we made in building that mine. They had another very strong quarter. Recoveries have picked up well, and we've also benefited from very healthy byproduct revenues there. Our Iron Ore business posted another period of steady performance despite some big challenges with higher costs from both diesel and freight. Performance at Kumba was notable insofar as it had to manage through some of the highest rainfalls that both the mines, Sishen and Kolomela have seen in decades, and they suffered that over April and May. Over in Brazil, Minas-Rio continues to have some of the highest productivity rates that we have in the group.
Now one of the management team's main priorities since the start of this year has been working with Teck on planning the integration for our merger. We are cracking on at pace here with all of that integration work, and there is a lot of work to do, as you can imagine. We're particularly focused on getting the business positioned to stand up on its own on day 1 post closing and getting ready for the 2 new listings in New York and Toronto and all of those associated regulatory processes. We set up an integration management office very early on, essentially a team of senior leaders from both companies that can work closely with me to drive the planning and the state of the readiness forward. They have done an excellent job so far, and we still have plenty to do, of course, but I'm very confident now that we will hit the ground running on day 1.
As the combined portfolio comes together, we will be ready to realize the material value and the synergies that we have identified, and I'm clear that all of the assets can play a meaningful role in doing that. As far as the future growth path is concerned, we will get into that once we have full visibility of all of the information of both companies post completion. Clearly, that's not possible to do given -- currently, given the antitrust and gun jumping rules. So in terms of what that means for market disclosure going forward, we'll start out with the details of the essential architecture that we need to manage the business from day 1 and then get through the more detailed planning that is enabled by full integration. So the initial disclosure will likely cover organizational structure, the group's key financial policies and accounting as well as the disclosure frameworks. We will then update the market in the ordinary course thereafter and continue to evolve as we have more information.
On the timing of completion, the final regulatory approval we need is, of course, as everybody knows, from China State Administration for Market Regulation, or SAMR, and we've been continuously engaging with them and cooperating with them over the last 6 months. We are of the view that the formation of Anglo Teck can only be positive for increasing global copper supply, and it is, therefore, also a positive for our customers. We believe that we will be on track to complete later this year or early next as we announced at the outset of the merger. I am conscious that many of you are going to have loads of questions related to the detail of these interactions and what that might mean. But as I'm sure you can appreciate, this is a confidential process and a really important one, and we don't want to misstep anything in the way to getting these final approvals. So I'm afraid I'm really not going to be commenting any more on that at this stage.
As I mentioned, we have moved forward on the portfolio transformation. The sale of our steelmaking coal business to Dhilmar for up to $3.9 billion was an excellent outcome from a highly competitive process that gives us both cash upfront and the ability to participate in price upside over the coming years. We are working towards satisfying all of the closing conditions and targeting close by Q1 of next year. On Nickel, we are continuing to work through the EU antitrust process on the proposed sale to MMG for up to $500 million. This has taken a lot longer than we had anticipated, but we now have some positive momentum following that protracted delay. And we believe that there are no market supply issues that arise from this transaction and supply has increased and diversified, in fact, further since we agreed this deal. And so we are optimistic now that we will receive this final regulatory approval and complete in the coming months.
Now that takes me on to the last leg of our portfolio transformation, which is the sale of De Beers. Now the team there has been working incredibly hard in a terribly complex environment over the last few years to achieve a responsible separation of that business. And I am pleased to say that things are advancing. That said, we are now in the final phases of our process, and that also is the most challenging phase of our process given the number of parties that we need to take along to the final point and get signing of the final agreements. Our focus remains on bringing this process to a conclusion within an acceptable terms during the second half of this year. And with that, I'll now hand over to John, who will take us through the financial results.
Thank you, Duncan, and good morning, everyone. I'm once again pleased with the financial performance for the first half of the year. We remain on track to deliver our annual production guidance. We've managed costs well in what's been an inflationary environment, and we've further strengthened the balance sheet. As we continue to progress through our portfolio transformation, the financial reporting, of course, remains complex. As we've done at our recent results on this first slide, I've set out as simply as possible, the basis on which our numbers are presented. As a reminder, our continuing operations include both the simplified Anglo American portfolio and De Beers.
Our discontinued operations include Steelmaking Coal and Nickel. Our simplified portfolio, focused on Copper and Premium Iron Ore, delivered EBITDA of $4.1 billion, an EBITDA margin of 46% and underlying earnings of $1 billion, all showing significant improvement on prior year, driven by favorable commodity prices and good cost control. De Beers incurred a marginal EBITDA loss of $0.1 billion, reflecting the continued challenging market conditions mitigated by our restructuring actions. Discontinued operations reported a loss during the period, mainly due to lower volumes at SMC as a result of poor weather and the ramp-up of Moranbah North, which is now, again, operating at normal levels.
Combining continuing and discontinued operations, the group delivered total earnings per share of $0.58 and a dividend of $0.23 per share, in line with our 40% payout policy. Net debt has continued to decrease, ending the period at $8.2 billion, down from $8.6 billion at the end of December last year, although that does reflect some favorable timing, which I'll come back to later. I'll take you through each of these items now in a little bit more detail, starting with the simplified portfolio.
Our basket price was up 22%, reflecting significant increases in Copper, partly offset by small reductions in Iron Ore. Iron ore price realizations were impacted by the diversion of Middle Eastbound product to other markets due to the Iran conflict and rising freight costs on an FOB basis. Production increased 1%, as Duncan mentioned, with slightly higher Copper offset by lower Iron Ore.
The higher prices supported a 22% increase in revenue and a 31% increase in EBITDA to $4.1 billion with around 70% of this EBITDA being driven by Copper. The tax rate in the simplified portfolio was 40%, slightly lower than last year due to the relative mix of profits and reduced impact from loss-making businesses following our restructuring program. This all resulted in a 60% increase in underlying earnings to $1 billion and return on capital employed improved by 4 percentage points to 19%. It's pleasing to see these higher margins and higher return on capital materialize as that was exactly the basis of our portfolio restructuring.
Turning now to costs, where we've got quite a lot to unpack with actual costs increasing due to macro factors and volume, while copper unit costs reduced significantly due to byproduct credits. Starting with total operating costs for the simplified portfolio. You can see here total costs increased by $0.6 billion to $4.8 billion, with the most significant factors being FX, CPI and fuel. There were then a number of smaller impacts, including freight as well as movements in Peru related to the rehabilitation provision and employee profit share provision.
Finally, the restart of the Los Bronces plant and the return to higher activity at manganese had an associated impact on costs. But of course, both of those were EBITDA positive. Moving on to unit costs. We saw a gross 13% increase. However, that is before the impact of byproduct credits and TC/RCs. The combined effect of which was a credit of $0.6 billion compared to $0.3 billion last year, with all of that benefit in copper. The $0.6 billion credit is roughly evenly split between Chile and Peru and is driven by molybdenum and silver. Given the scale of the relative cost basis with Peru gross unit cost being about half that of Chile, this meant that the credits had a much more material impact on Peru than Chile.
Copper unit costs with the credit benefit, therefore, reduced by 12% from $1.55 to $1.36 with copper Peru at $0.45 and Chile at $2.06. Iron ore unit costs increased by 17% to $41 per tonne, reflecting the underlying cost position that I've just described with most of the FX impact being related to iron ore. This left total net unit costs up 4% versus last year. Bringing everything together now in the EBITDA reconciliation for the simplified portfolio. As you can see, the vast majority of the increase from $3.1 billion to $4.1 billion is due to macro factors. Our favorable basket price driven by copper and byproduct credits resulted in a $1.2 billion price benefit, partly offset by FX on the South African rand and Brazilian real as well as CPI to take EBITDA before controllables to $4 billion.
Moving on to the controllables. Sales volumes were slightly lower, mainly reflecting timing of shipments in copper. The Los Bronces and manganese cost impacts from the plant restart and increased manganese activity, respectively, totaled $0.2 billion and are spread across each of volume, cost and the other category. These and the other incremental costs I described previously are then offset by the final corporate cost savings, lower TC/RCs and manganese volume to leave this controllable side of the chart, a small net positive in the first half of the year, taking EBITDA to $4.1 billion.
Moving now to our exiting businesses and starting with an update on the actions we're taking at De Beers. The diamond market continues to face both cyclical and structural challenges, but we have taken and continue to take proactive action to preserve value and reduce the net impact to the group. This is evident in the results, which show an EBITDA loss of $0.1 billion compared to $0.2 billion last year, even as prices have moved lower. This reflects the impact of cost savings, but more materially, a lower cost inventory base as recent purchases have been at lower prices.
Although the losses have been stemmed, we're not resting and restructuring action continues while ensuring that we retain upside optionality as markets recover. The most significant action is at Venetia, where production will be paused for around 2 years and capital expenditure on the Underground project will be rephased. This protects near-term cash flow and will allow us to reduce CapEx in 2026 by $300 million, while preserving the long-term value and future production potential of the asset.
Venetia was also contributing loss-making carats in the first half, so pausing this production will also assist forward profitability. Alongside this, De Beers is reshaping its corporate structure, simplifying the organization and reducing the central cost base. This builds on the progress already moved -- already made to remove overhead costs and improve efficiency across the business. Overall, these actions demonstrate a clear emphasis on cash preservation, cost reduction and value protection while also setting the business up for a successful divestment.
Briefly now on discontinued operations. EBITDA was a loss of $0.2 billion, reflecting -- principally driven by Steelmaking Coal, while Nickel was broadly breakeven. I'm pleased with the operational progress at Steelmaking coal with Moranbah, as I said, having a successful ramp-up and now effectively back at normal operating levels. The equity shareholders' loss of $1.2 billion reflects the underlying earnings plus a $0.9 billion impairment of SMC to reflect the terms of the Dhilmar transaction. Applying a consensus-based annual pricing to a DCF calculation doesn't attribute any value to the price-linked consideration. But in reality, of course, we would expect there to be option value from price volatility with payments being calculated on a quarterly basis for 5 years.
Meanwhile, we've initiated arbitration proceedings against Peabody in respect to the previous transaction, which is ongoing. Capital expenditure reduced to $0.1 billion, primarily reflecting the removal of PGMs from the portfolio. And the net debt impact was a $0.2 billion outflow, including the cash received from the Steelmaking Coal deposit from Dhilmar.
Looking at capital expenditure, we've maintained a disciplined approach with CapEx in continuing operations decreasing by 6% to $1.5 billion. This reduction was driven primarily by lower sustaining capital expenditure as the Minas-Rio filtration plant completed and the Collahuasi desalination plant approached completion. We do expect higher capital expenditure in the second half, but we've made some cost efficiency gains, which I'll touch on in the guidance section shortly. Growth CapEx increased modestly year-on-year, reflecting investment in a small number of projects, including the first phase of the Collahuasi debottlenecking initiative and Kumba's UHDMS project along with Woodsmith.
Moving now to cash generation, which, as always, remained a priority during the period. EBITDA of $4 billion translated into $3.5 billion of cash flow from operations. Working capital remained flat with the adverse impact of rising prices largely offset by a number of timing benefits across multiple categories, including receivables, payables and marketing activities. I wouldn't expect all of these timing benefits to endure and therefore, anticipate an increase in working capital through the second half. The $0.3 billion outflow from other operating cash flows is primarily due to timing of market derivative settlements, which offset in EBITDA and working capital. Cash tax and interest payments, distributions to minorities and sustaining CapEx totaling $2.3 billion resulted in a $1.2 billion of sustaining attributable free cash flow, up around 90% compared to last year.
Similar to working capital, where we will see some increase in the second half, both cash tax payments and distributions to minorities were lower than the income statement charges, and this will reverse to an extent in the coming periods. Nonetheless, it is pleasing to see the business continue to generate increased cash flows.
Looking at net debt, we've seen a further reduction to $8.2 billion. The $1.2 billion of sustaining attributable free cash flow during the half was more than sufficient to fund growth CapEx of $0.4 billion, the dividends paid to Anglo American shareholders and the outflows from discontinued operations. And I'm pleased that our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is now at 1x, while the group continues to maintain a strong liquidity position.
Looking ahead now for the balance of the year, the business remains in a strong position with all operations and controllable costs trending as planned. The only change to unit cost guidance relates to a reduction in copper unit costs, which is a reflection of the byproduct credits, which I described earlier. As I noted in February, our original guidance was conservative on byproduct pricing and foreign exchange, given we were in the very early stages of the Middle East conflict and the associated macro uncertainty. In Peru, with updated full year guidance of $0.65 compared with the first half of $0.45, we continue to be somewhat conservative on pricing of moly and silver relative to current spots, reflecting the sensitivity of unit costs to the size of the credits in Peru, as I described earlier.
In Chile, where the size of the cost base means their unit costs are less sensitive to those credits, we've guided full year at $2.10 compared to $2.06 in the first half. In Iron Ore, we've kept cost guidance the same for the second half. However, we would note that these businesses are more susceptible to oil price movements and do not benefit from the byproduct credits in the same way as Copper. As you will see in our usual sensitivity analysis, which is in the appendix, for every 10% move in oil prices, we would expect a $43 million impact to 6-month group EBITDA.
Moving on to CapEx. Our projects team is continuing to deliver optimized outcomes and the work on both the filtration plant at Minas-Rio and the plant debottlenecking at Quellaveco have come in under budget, which allows us to reduce our CapEx guidance for the simplified portfolio by $0.1 billion. And as I mentioned before, now with the temporary suspension of Venetia, we've reduced our expected spending at De Beers in the second half by $0.3 billion. Therefore, collectively, for the continuing portfolio, this amounts to CapEx savings of $0.4 billion, bringing our total 2026 CapEx guidance now to $3.2 billion for the year.
Finally, as I've mentioned previously, for 2026, we will incur $0.2 billion of special costs for the restructuring and merger, and we will have $0.5 billion of non-cash increase in our net debt arising from lease for the infrastructure related to the Los Bronces desalination plant, which we'll complete in the second half of the year.
So to finish, let me briefly recap on those key financial messages. We delivered strong profit growth with EBITDA from our continuing operations up by 35% to $4 billion, aligned with our portfolio restructuring and a higher exposure to Copper. We managed the controllable costs well and stronger byproduct pricing enabled us to reduce copper unit cost guidance by 12% to $1.36 per pound. Our focus on capital management and project execution has allowed us to reduce planned 2026 capital expenditure by $0.4 billion, which should further underpin higher return on capital employed, which is now at 19% for the simplified portfolio.
The balance sheet also continues to strengthen with net debt reducing to $8.2 billion and leverage reducing to 1x EBITDA, while, of course, retaining significant liquidity. Overall, the simplified portfolio continues to provide resilient earnings with attractive exposure to Copper-led growth and delivering higher margins and returns. Thank you very much, and I'll now hand back to Duncan.
Thank you, John. So one of the biggest differentiators in our portfolio is the potential for us to deliver meaningful Copper growth with higher returns and lower complexity relative to peers with the benefit of building from some of the best copper assets in the world. Now as this slide shows, bringing new copper production online is becoming ever more expensive. The rate of inflation for capital intensity is running at almost double the increase in CPI. Capital is therefore now a bigger part of the project's economics than ever before and returns need to be higher just to justify those elevated costs. As capital inflation continues, the economics of many growth projects are at risk without higher prices. And this is why we believe the copper price has to be structurally higher.
It's also taking a lot longer to actually build and deliver these projects. Back in the 1990s, it took about 7 years from the time that you discovered an ore body to bring it into production. Now over the last decade or so, that has stretched out to almost 18 years. And if that carries on, the cycles will take longer to move from trough to peak, and we'll see much bigger swings in price. This is especially true when so much of the demand for copper is coming from strategic buyers who really aren't all that price sensitive. So in that kind of world, projects that you can deliver in the short to medium term without spending a fortune to build them become hugely valuable.
Now you'll have seen this slide before, but it makes this point well. Our key copper growth options really stand out where it matters the most on complexity and on capital intensity. Over the last 15 years, the industry's CapEx estimates have mostly come in far worse than what was promised at the study stage. So in that world, low complexity and low capital intensity is exactly where you want to be. Starting from lower capital intensity projects, our returns -- starting from lower capital intensity protects our returns and it leaves us really well placed to benefit from price upside that these supply dynamics should drive. And that's on top of a demand outlook that is structurally strong.
Now with all of that in mind, the integration of Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca is a really exciting prospect. Arguably, it is one of the industry's best options for capital-efficient copper growth at scale, and that is actionable in the near term. Now as a reminder, there is a potential to add an incremental 175,000 tonnes of annual copper production at around $2 billion of CapEx. So that's about $11,000 of CapEx per tonne of copper growth. Importantly, the integration would still allow for further growth and both -- from both assets, and this also provides increased flexibility for future options, including leaching and other plant expansions.
We are busy putting the building blocks in place to make this integration a success. We are focused right now on the technical groundwork and on engaging with shareholders across both assets. And just like any other adjacency that we bought over the last few years, it is important that we take our time and we do this properly. Much of what drives the extended schedules for copper projects is the time needed for permitting, planning and stakeholder alignment. So we want to get that right from the outset. We continue to believe that this is, by far, the best way forward for both Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca. It sits right in that sweet spot, low capital intensity, relatively low execution risk, high confidence and near-term copper growth at real scale.
And I'm genuinely confident about the potential here. We can build something pretty special, one of the largest and most competitive mining complexes in the world with decades of accretive growth ahead of it.
Now last month, we announced the final regulatory approval for the agreement to form a joint mine plan between Los Bronces and Codelco's Andina mine right next door. Now if you forgive the pun, it's really groundbreaking work there, a very thoughtful and innovative structure that meets the objectives of both sides without compromise to value creation, and it allows the respective shareholders to participate in the upside on a pro rata basis. Now as we've said before, this joint mine plan will add another 120,000 tonnes of annual average copper production, which will be shared equally between the parties. This -- when we announced this deal, we identified around $5 billion of pretax value uplift to share with Codelco, and that was at a copper price of around $5 a pound. So this is probably the clearest example of us benefiting from exactly the copper dynamics that I've just been speaking about.
Now that we're through completion, the teams are moving into the joint mine plan integration design work. We've got a governance framework in place, and we're now working towards the environmental permits where we're aiming to have them done by 2030. And just like Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca, there could be more growth to come down the line. For example, here at Los Bronces, we've kept the right to develop the underground if the markets can support it.
We're really excited about our future as Anglo Teck and the upside that we can unlock from this in terms of the synergies and the growth. Now as I've said just now, it is going to take some time before we can talk to the deal aspects of project sequencing. However, that should in no way detract from the core of the value proposition because it will continue to be primarily driven by Anglo American and Teck's current portfolio of assets. The key value driver for us going forward, therefore, remains operational excellence. Now that we've built a more stable operating platform, we've got a solid base to plan from, and we're continuously working on systematically optimizing productivity, costs and stability. We're also looking further out to see how we can best manage the natural variation that occurs over the lives of mines as well as the inevitable pressures on grades over time.
So at Quellaveco, we've just completed a debottlenecking program at the plant. Recoveries are up and the mine is operating very well. Now this stability gives us the ability to focus on maximizing the future value. And in this context, we are continuing to shape the production profile over the next decade. As you know, over the next few years, we're going to be moving from the supergene into the hypogene ore body and the hypogene ore body is characterized by lower grades. Now the work that we're doing there is looking to smooth out the production profile during that transition period. And as a consequence, we may take an earlier step down in annual production volumes towards the end of the decade in order to sustain that rate over a longer period of time to maximize value rather than taking a much bigger step down a little bit further out.
Although to be clear, these changes should not impact our current production guidance, and we are continuing to pursue new ore sources that could come into the mine plan over time as we look to optimize Quellaveco's value. It is a highly profitable business, highly cash generative and is well set to be a cornerstone of the Anglo Teck portfolio through the next decade and more, and we will continue to push for further options to enhance its value. At Kumba, what we're doing there with the UHDMS technology is already setting us up to get more out of Sishen. It's going to treble the share of the high-grade product, and that is exactly the quality of product that plays into the key demand trends over the medium term. And we're getting more optimistic about what we can deliver from Sishen over time. However, there is scope for other upsides from Kumba's performance in the near term. And Mpumi is spearheading a full potential program there to improve productivity, costs and return on capital.
Minas-Rio is another mine that is operating well. And as we look forward, we remain excited about the full potential of Serpentina, which is an excellent ore body. Now our focus at Minas-Rio is, therefore, now working through the most capital-efficient and value-accretive pathway to the Serpentina resource with a particular focus on confidence in execution in the context of what we now see as a very much increased challenging and permitting landscape. We have the time to do this work. And to be clear, it does not impact our guidance and the operating stability that's now in place creates a solid platform for us to unlock the full potential of that Serpentina adjacency.
So we are continuing to work hard on how we optimize the long-term potential across the portfolio. And through the merger, we will continue to challenge ourselves as to how we can strengthen sustainable performance even more over time and allow us to make the most of what I see is shaping up to be a fantastic company. So to close, operational excellence is right at the heart of how we're driving better performance across the business, and there's definitely more to come as we set ourselves up to understand and then to deliver that potential from the merged business. After 2 years of hard yards, the portfolio work at Anglo American is nearly done, and we're in great shape to start life as Anglo Teck with a focused set of assets.
In addition to that, we've got near-term growth, we've got medium-term growth and a whole suite of assets and project options to keep us delivering well into the long term. And on a personal note, I am properly energized by Anglo American -- how Anglo American is performing right now and by everything that lies ahead. I am really looking forward to seeing this merger through and to leading Anglo Teck over the coming years to deliver its huge potential. I am determined, Stuart. And with that, John and I are happy to take your questions now. Tyler, you're going to moderate.
Thanks very much. I think what we'll do is we'll start with Matt, as I promised last night. And then we'll do the traditional analyst conga line of questions.
2. Question Answer
Duncan, it's Matt Greene, Goldman Sachs. I just want to touch on your copper, probably in the near term. Congratulations on the Los Bronces and Andina agreement there. But when we think about this preparation period between now and when this JV kicks in, in 2030, what needs to be done to get this asset ready? You've touched on the tailings, the desal ramping up. But anything else that we need to be considered of here? Anything...
No. I mean the critical path now at Los Bronces/Andina runs absolutely through the permitting process. We've got a very good view of what the shape of the mine should be from the agreement work that we did. We've got to keep doing what we're doing in terms of the removal of Pérez Caldera. So that's pretty important because as soon as Pérez Caldera is moved, we can bring back the second plant because you know the Los Bronces plant comes down again to move Pérez Caldera. But we need that plant when we start the joint operations with Andina.
So that's part of the critical path, but all on track and making good progress there. Just as far as the permitting process goes, look, it's a complex permitting environment. Generally, in South America, it's complex. In Chile, it's quite complex, particularly in and around where Los Bronces is because it's so closely located to the city of Santiago. So normally, these sorts of permitting process can take 3 or 4 years. But we have a very front-footed, forward-looking government there who's very excited about the prospects of good and responsible copper growth in the company -- in the country.
And so look, I'm expecting that we've got a number of legal processes that we need to go through. But this is a good outcome environmentally. It's a good outcome in terms of utilization of resources like water and land. So the environmental impacts are much better than 2 stand-alone growth options in the same place. So I'm expecting that we'll have a reasonable ride through that permitting process, but it will probably still be around about 3 years to get it done.
That's great. And then just longer term, Quellaveco, outstanding first half year. So congratulations on the performance there. When you scope the concentrator, you were limited by water. You've been able to manage that. You're pushing to 142,000 tonnes a day by the end of this year. I think there's scope to move to 150,000 tonnes beyond that. Where do you see this as the concentrator tapping out? And then how do you think about the next leg here for Quellaveco?
Yes. Look, I mean, I think this is a great example of continuous improvement and innovation all at the same time. The ore body is the ore body, and it has the grades that it has. And of course, we were limited by water in terms of what we could produce at the time. I think when we permitted the project originally, we could only process 127,500 tonnes a day. As you say, we sort of managed to iterate ourselves to around about 140,000 and now probably have liberated the possibility of processing almost 150,000 tonnes a day.
So what -- how did we do that? Well, first of all, it's a complete optimization of the internal water balance within the plant, making sure that we're recycling as much of that water, not allowing it to evaporate, et cetera, et cetera. So there's a whole bunch of processes that go in and around that. Of course, we implemented our first full-scale coarse particle flotation unit there, and that made a very big difference in terms of the application and use of water. And then there's been a little bit of debottlenecking. In every plant that you have, you really want your primary constraint to be your SAG mill. And so to the extent that you can debottleneck anything around that sort of gives you the benefit.
So the primary constraint here will continue to be water. We're not using any more water than we were going to use for 175,000 tonnes a day. And I think given the combination of where the primary constraint is in the SAG mill now probably correlates with the primary constraint of water. So around about 150,000 tonnes is where it's going to be. So that really just helps us smooth out the production, particularly during that transition period to the hypogenes.
Maxime Kogge from ODDO BHF. So first question is on Collahuasi because it's a bit difficult to understand the situation there with regards to the desal plant. I mean a lot of money has been invested, more than $3 billion over the last few years. It has required 3 years of investing. And yet we had at this eleventh-hour stoppage. So what are, in your view, the stumbling blocks there in your discussions with the administration? And when can we -- can you give us some sense of a time line for restart there?
Yes. So look, as I say, this is a permit that was granted by the SEA more than 5 years ago and was granted off the back of a fully fledged consultation process with all the stakeholders that were involved in it. What has subsequently happened is that a stakeholder group has taken the permit on review. It then escalated through a number of steps to get to the environmental tribunal, who suggested that the SEA who granted the permit will need to review it. So it's just the component associated with the desalination plant. So this is the whole of the EIA for Collahuasi. So it's just the component of the desalination plant that was taken under review.
And this is a process that now the government has to reset, including the consultation process. But we are hopeful that within the next 6 months or so, we should be able to get back on track and be able to restart that plant. As I said earlier, it's had no impact in terms of production so far because we have a number of alternative water sources. But in terms of the long term, we will need the desalination plant to come back on, which we're expecting it will do.
All right. And just a second question on copper. Just about the big spike we've had in sulfuric acid prices. I was wondering what was the net balance for you because on the one hand, you have the smelter in Chagres. On the other hand, you have some consumption in leaching ops. So is it net positive balance? And do you see opportunities in terms of smelting going forward and conversely, some hindrances in terms of leaching production? Yes.
Yes. Look, I mean, as far as smelting is concerned, I mean, we have the Chagres smelter. It is one of the best operated smelters in that region. So it continues to perform very well. It's an integrated smelter for us, right? So we don't take custom material through it. It's really our own material that we put through it. We don't -- I mean, of course, there are very interesting views today on the role of smelting in the system. But as we see it at this particular point in time, we're really not looking to expand our smelting capacity within the group. It is quite capital intensive. We're very happy with the capacity that exists in the market today.
If that environment changes, then we would relook at it. But right now, so long as Chagres continues to perform in the way that it does, it's a very viable component of our portfolio. In terms of leaching per se, another technology that's getting a lot of favor. It's one of these things that the mining industry has been poking at for a very long time in terms of a technology breakthrough. And many mining companies have got various different views of which technologies are good and which technologies are not. I am very clearly of the view there isn't a silver bullet in terms of leaching technology that applies to all mining. Leaching works in varying degrees on different types of ore bodies, and there are many different types of leaching that you would pick appropriate to a specific ore body.
Generally, leaching technology has been at the point where it works very, very well on oxidized ores, but not as well in terms of recovery basis on sulfidic ores. The technology does seem to be changing and moving. So much higher recoveries on some of these technologies are coming through on the sulfidic ores. That would be a very big positive if you had an ore body that was amenable to that sort of leaching because the capital intensity of leaching plants is just so much lower than the capital intensity of concentrators.
It does come with other environmental permitting issues and so on. But I think to the extent that you have operations like Collahuasi, who has a leaching operation already and -- it's a shuttered operation, but we can bring it back on, it gives you a lot more opportunity to make use of a technology that does work for you in that space. So yes, so I think leaching technology is an interesting space to watch, but it's not a silver bullet for the whole of the industry. So it's not something that I see at this point in time that is a mass implementation that completely drops the cost curve of copper mining.
It's Ian Rossouw from Barclays. Just sort of following up on that copper side. And obviously, with the restart of the Los Bronces plant earlier this year, you've been able to add additional volumes. You mentioned the Collahuasi leaching plant. Is there opportunity to do more of that, I guess, into next year, maybe run that Los Bronces plant a bit longer before you move the Pérez Caldera dam or bring back -- plans to bring back that leaching at Collahuasi.
And then a second question, just on the Steelmaking Coal business. Obviously, the unit costs were pretty high. Obviously, a large fixed cost component within that as Moranbah ramps up. How should we think about profitability in the second half? I know you don't give guidance on unit cost and volumes, but just how we should think about that?
Okay. So Los Bronces plant, remember, we -- when we shut Los Bronces down, the plant down, it wasn't making any money at all. And there were 2 key drivers of that. One, it was just the fundamental underlying base of Los Bronces per se, but that plant specifically. And secondly, the quality of the ore that we were able to feed to it. The mine was very, very constrained in those days. You'll remember, we were monophasic, stuck in Infiernillo 5, really struggling at the bottom of that phase to get the volumes at a quality that could support both of the plants, Confluencia and Los Bronces.
And so the decision was an economic one, right? So value over volume was a very important drive for me. It still is today. And hence, the decision to shut that plant down. What has changed subsequently is that the mine has progressed extremely well on their cost management focus, right? They have really focused on where the real numbers need to be, and they've implemented a number of programs that have sustainably delivered better cost performance across the whole of Los Bronces.
But secondly, and probably far more importantly is that the progress that they've made on the development of Donoso 2, which is the phase that will ultimately replace Infiernillo 5 is ahead of schedule. And the consequence of it being ahead of schedule means that, one, we have access to more ore; two, that ore is softer and processes better through the plants and the harder ore that comes out of Infiernillo 5. And thirdly, is slightly higher grade, just given where it is in the mine. It's higher up in the mine than where Infiernillo 5 is. So the combination of those things then made the restart, of course, in the back of some very robust copper prices, a materially viable value solution. So we started up.
Now the constraint is absolutely the removal of that Pérez Caldera tailings dam. So this is a commitment that we have, as you know, that this all sort of emanated from actually a very long-standing commitment almost back to the Exxon days to remove that tailings dam, but even more important in terms of what we understand about tailings dams under the GISTM process. So we are going to move that tailings dam. It needs the water because we're so water constrained in that region that we're currently using in that plant. So that is what we're going to do next. And the rate at which we can move that, of course, the big prize here is to have everything back up and running when we've combined Andina, Los Bronces, so we can optimize the copper production from the combined asset at that point in time.
So the real critical part now runs through the removal of Pérez Caldera. That, as I said earlier, is like on track. It's running very well. I'm not sure whether we can accelerate it yet. It's a little bit early days, but to the extent that we can and optimize the way that we extract it, there is a small probability that we can either delay, but I'm talking about months, not years, the shuttering of the Los Bronces plant or starting it up a little bit earlier if we get the permits back.
And then Collahuasi leaching and met coal?
What was the Collahuasi leaching question?
Just how we should think about the time lines for bringing -- potentially bringing that.
Yes. So look, I mean, the team is working very hard on that right now. I mean I think there is a view that we might be able to bring some of that in during the course of next year, but don't know quite exactly where they've got to at this particular point in time. We have a plant there. So it's obviously -- it's going to have to be refurbished a little bit. It's a specific process. I think what we're also looking at is what the full leaching potential of Collahuasi is. So leaching at Collahuasi, you might think about in 2 phases. One is the restart of the current plant because current copper price environment probably substantiates and supports the restart of that plant. The guys are busy doing the feasibility study now as to when that might come on.
The second phase is actually an application of one of these new technologies that is amenable to the Collahuasi ore body. And we have 2 options here, which is an absolute pleasure, right? One is we've got this massive mineralized waste pile, which is a stockpile that the mine has actually been running off for the last 18 months, which is probably more amenable to leaching than it is to concentration. And if some of these sulfidic technologies work in leaching, we have the Ujina pit and we have a portion of the Rosario pit that would probably be amenable to that. So it's probably a little bit further out, but that's the technological dream and the optionality that we have embedded in Collahuasi.
Then you asked on Steelmaking Coal and the unit costs. So look, the guys had a pretty rough start to the year with weather, right? We had 3 mega weather events across the group. One is in Australia at the beginning of the year, where the open pits were completely inundated with water. Honestly, I've never seen anything like this in my life. We had conveyors that are already 10 meters above the ground that were submerged. So all the resilience things that have been put in place were beaten by mother nature this year around. I mean, so probably a 1 in a 400-year flood that they had there. So it took them some time. And so some of that is embedded in the cost base.
And then we had to be very cautious in how we were ramping up Moranbah. And so a bit slower to get it right. But I'm thrilled to say that over the last sort of 2 months or so, the guys are absolutely consistently hitting their straps kind of getting around about 150,000 tonnes a week of production out of Moranbah. On that basis, we should see some adjustment to the unit cost because the production is increasing. And so long as we don't have another weather event in this year, the open pits are well on their way to recovery there, too.
This is Alain Gabriel at Morgan Stanley. Duncan, a couple of questions. One is on the integration with Teck. Your teams are clearly doing lots of integration planning. What have you learned so far that has surprised you either positively or negatively, given the limitations of what you can and cannot say?
And the second question is on the De Beers probably for John. What are the stand-alone provisions and pensions and long-term liabilities for taxes as well that you can share with us at this stage?
So on the integration, I'm thrilled to say no big surprises. So the challenging work is the volume of work at this point in time. because, of course, we're prevented from seeing commercial data on either side. The companies are actually competitors until the day that we close, and that's a really cool stuff that I really want to get my teeth into big time. But I can't do that until we've completed. But on the other hand, what we do need is -- I mean, we've got a very clear view of where the synergies are that we've announced, and we need to set the organization up now to be able to hit the ground running hard in terms of the rapid delivery of those synergies.
And secondly, we've got -- you just got to have an operating model for the company that everybody knows and everybody understands from day 1, and that's a lot of work. So just understanding what the asset bases are, we rely very heavily on how Teck think about certain things, and they have to rely very heavily on how we think about certain things. And then we've got to put the right operating model in place. So that's all been very good progress.
And then, of course, the company has to actually operate. It's got to have a management system on that day. We've got 2 new listings in New York and Toronto, what you're required to do in terms of the statutory information, the financial reporting, the Sarbanes-Oxley stuff and so on. That's an enormous amount of work to, one, understand and then plumb systemically through the businesses, both in Teck and Anglo. So that's the volume of work. So not the most exciting work. Well, unless you're Siobhan. She loves this stuff. But very important work to run to get right if we're going to have a chance of driving those synergies out in the time that we said. John, do you want to do that?
Just clarify the question. I picked up tax, but I didn't get your specifics on it.
What are the long-term provisions and pension liabilities that are sitting in the De Beers entity?
De Beers. So the pensions in De Beers are in great shape. So like they are across all of Anglo American. So very well funded. We're in the process of moving the majority of those long-term defined benefit plans to buy in or buy out, which effectively means we transfer those liabilities to insurance providers. On taxes, nothing of concern on De Beers on long-term tax liabilities, all pretty in the ordinary course. So no unusual long-term liabilities. Of course, the big long-term liabilities in De Beers as they are with any mining company is the closure provisions and rehabilitation provisions, et cetera, but all in the ordinary course.
And are you able to quantify these long-term provisions?
No, not at this time.
Myles Allsop, UBS. A few quick questions. Maybe for John to start with. Could you give us a sense of how much you are looking to get from Peabody? Is it $500 million? Is it $1 billion? Is it $1.5 billion? Obviously, you've got kind of a better sense now of what you're going to realize and the losses that have been incurred and so on. But it would be helpful just to get a sense of what that potential could be.
Maybe I know it's early days and it will be the new Board decision, but how you're thinking around the dividend policy for Anglo Teck? Is it more likely to be aligned with the current Anglo policy or a more North American sort of structure?
And maybe for Duncan, just on manganese. Obviously, you've done most of the heavy lifting on the restructuring? And is that now, kind of, on the list of things to tidy up?
Okay. Myles, on your first question on Peabody, obviously, the arbitration, as I said, has been initiated. That's a confidential matter, and therefore, I won't comment any further in terms of quantums or amounts. But as we've said consistently, we are very, very confident in our legal position on that case. And your second question on the dividend for Anglo Teck, you quite rightly say that will be a decision for the Anglo Teck Board, which, of course, is not yet formed. And so that would be one of the things when Duncan talked about the phasing of communication that we'd hope to be able to clarify that very early post completion of the merger.
And then on manganese, Myles, you probably wouldn't expect me to say much different from -- we look at all the assets in the portfolio all of the time. And to the extent that we can see more value for them in a different way or in a different format, we would deal with that and manganese would just be one of those. So nothing specific plan on it, but absolutely in line with how we think about asset management and planning for the whole of the business at a portfolio level, it will be looked at in the same way.
Tony Robson, Global Mining Research. Possibly a question to John -- to Duncan. The $4.5 billion special dividend being paid out just prior. So we're talking days, weeks prior to the formal unification issuing of shares to take and so on. And was there any thought about doing that as a buyback rather than a special? Surely, that's in terms of the weighting of the assets, the ratio you require as a merger of equals would have the same impact and reduction in shareholders' equity, I would assume. So it's why a special rather than a buyback?
Yes. I mean, John can comment on the detail of this, but I can assure you, when we were looking at the merger ratios of the company and what we needed to do to put it together, we considered all of the options. The best option for us was a return of some capital to the Anglo American shareholders. And so that was the decision we took. So it's not going to change now. It is a return of $4.5 billion just prior to completion. John, do you want to add anything to that?
No, that's it.
Felicity Robson, Bank of America. The Steelmaking Coal disposal is valued at up to $3.9 billion with $2.3 billion upfront. How can we think about the likelihood and the timing around any of the contingent payments?
Yes. John may have to help me with the timing, but the key differential is -- I mean, the key contingency is just all price related. I think it's probably over a 5-year period or something. John, 5 years. So over the next 5 years, depending on where the steelmaking coal price is, I can't remember the term that we look at it...
It moves around a little bit, but on average, it's in the high 250s.
Yes, high 250s, but it's quarterly or -- so quarterly review tested, we'll get any participation in the upside of that.
Richard Hatch from Berenberg. Just a few quick ones. Firstly, it's been a while since byproducts were this attractive or got this much time in the limelight. So can you just remind us how much silver you're producing, how much moly you're producing, so we can try and get our models sharper for that sneaky little beat you gave us this morning.
Second, John, you teased us on working capital, but how much do you think comes back in H2? And then thirdly, good old noncontrolling interest, you're making a lot of money from Quellaveco, but I saw there was a 0 dividend to your JV partner or your minority partner, so in cash. So I just question when we're going to start to see some cash flowing out of Anglo plc back to Mitsubishi.
Sure. Yes. First of all, on the byproducts, I mean, there's a number of things in there, a bit of silver, a bit of gold, a bit of moly, a bit of acid. And so -- and of course, it moves around depending on where you're at in the ore body. So we're not giving volumes on that just now we -- I think for the first time, given the quantum, felt it was appropriate to give the number, which was, I said, 0.6, I think, 575 to be precise in terms of the revenue. So yes, no more detail to give on that given the variability. And of course, it changes by mine.
In terms of working capital, it was nice to see that working capital remain flat in the first half of the year. Ordinarily, you would have expected an increase given commodity prices. A number of things causing that to be offset. One, the actual sales volumes themselves in December last year were very high in the December month, and therefore, that caused the receivables to be a bit higher. The June month this year in terms of volumes was actually a little bit lower. So that was an offset. And then as I said, there was a number of timing benefits. So we got some receipts from customers a little bit quicker. There was a number of capital creditors that were delayed out a little bit, et cetera, et cetera.
To answer your question, in the round, if you -- what would you have expected working capital to go up by in the first half of the year if we didn't have these offsets, then the price impact, as you saw in my waterfall was $1.2 billion. If you took your receivables somewhere between 30 and 60 days, it's probably somewhere between $200 million and $400 million of a sort of timing benefit that we had in the first half of the year.
And in terms of the noncontrolling interest, then, of course, yes, there will be -- and again, I mentioned this in my speech that there will be -- there is a difference in timing between the earnings coming through and then when those dividends are actually paid out. So yes, I would expect to see over the course of the second half of the year in respect of not only Quellaveco, but also AA Sur, some dividends paid out to those minorities.
It's Liam Fitzpatrick from Deutsche Bank. Just one question on the Collahuasi-QB JV. Have discussions advanced much in recent months with Glencore and the other partners at both sets of assets? And in order to meet that 2028 construction start, timetable, when would you need to reach an agreement and make the relevant permit applications?
Liam, so look, discussions are ongoing, right? So it's not only with Glencore, it's with all the other stakeholders, too, in terms of how we can shape this up. Fundamentally, this is going to rely on the stand-alone options that exist in both of the assets and getting those to a level that people can value effectively, clearly because that sets the base, one in terms of the combination ratio of the partners going forward, but also how the synergies will be shared.
So that work is ongoing. Those conversations have started, definitely not concluded at this particular point in time. I think we do need to get that technical work done properly. That is the bit that actually takes the time. To get done. But we should absolutely have that done at a point in time where we are able to go into permitting to get us up and running by the end of the decade, which is where we said that we would do it because don't forget that here, the permitting is materially less complex than would be the case on either of the stand-alone options. Given that this is, by and large, a conveyor belt that just connects to operations as opposed to the construction of a brand-new plant, which is on a stand-alone basis, a massive plant. It would be kind of the size of Quellaveco on a stand-alone basis.
So yes, I think there is time to do this and get it right. Discussions have started and will continue over the next year or so.
It's Chris LaFemina from Jefferies. So just some questions on Collahuasi. So back in 2020, 2021 coming out of COVID, you had 2 fantastic years. Grades were up, production was up materially when workers weren't showing up to work, which was impressive performance, but it was also somewhat surprising. Here we are 5, 6 years later and you're having these geotechnical issues. It was transitional ore this year, these complex faulting issues that you need to deal with next year. So I'm wondering, first, if some of these problems that you're having today or some of these challenges today are a consequence of changes to the mine plan coming out of COVID.
And then secondly, the complex faulting issues that you said you need to work through again next year. I think you said you've dealt with these in the past, but just wondering what sort of risks there are to your 2027 production, you have to slow down mining rates, et cetera, as a result of that?
Yes. Yes. Great questions, Chris. And of course, my adage is once you stop mining to the plan, you pay the piper at some particular point in time. And certainly, there's no doubt that Collahuasi is not immune from this. They have a little bit more insulation around it given the high quality of that ore body, but they are absolutely not immune. And without -- it doesn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination to know that during COVID, they prioritized the resources that they had into the production benches. So the development benches fell behind. The consequence of that is it played out about 2 years ago when they had to catch up the stripping for the next phase of the mine. So this is Phase 15, I think it is, at the mine. And in the back of their mind, I mean, in their defense, they do have the stonking stockpile, here, right? I mean it is a 0.6% grading waste pile.
There are many, many fresh ore mines that would love to have that as their primary grade. What they miscalculated here was the rate at which this material was going to recover. So the grade is actually very consistent. It is there. The trials that they did and the tests that they did during that period of time gave them some confidence that when they process the stockpile, they would get the recoveries that were consistent with the plan that they had put forward. So this wasn't like they completely screwed this up. They had a plan, what they miscalculated was the homogeneity of the refraction of that ore source.
So they have to kind of crack on and get that done. And so that's been the focus for that management team over the last 2 years, which is, okay, we know what we've got to live with now. When does it get sorted out? Back end of this year is when we should have opened up those phases. And we're already starting to switch into a higher proportion of fresh ore compared to the stockpiled ore. So that's all good. As far as the fault is concerned, the complex fault is concerned, of course, all mines have faults, right? If it wasn't for the fault, there'd be no mine at all because that's how copper porphyries are formed is through the fault.
The complexity of this particular one is just the facets that exist within it. So as we get into this Phase 15, we are going against the grain, if you like. So instead of mining straight into the fault, we've got a number of cross faults that creates a bit of wedging, you get a bit of fallout. The geotechs are trying to work out whether we need to slack the angle on that slope. I don't know whether that's going to be needed at this particular point in time, but it is something that we have to consider. I'm pretty confident in our copper guidance. What it means is maybe we just get a bit of lumpy production out of Collahuasi for a period, but there are other alternative sources of ore in Collahuasi, including the leach plant and so on and so on. So just nothing untoward here, but just to know that we are moving into that phase of the mine now.
It's Grant Sporre from Bloomberg Intelligence. A question probably for John. Just you called out the net debt being $6.6 billion, excluding shareholder loans. And I'm guessing you're referring to the Mitsubishi Vale shareholder loans of $1.6 billion, if memory serves correctly. Is there any specific terms for those loans when you have to pay them back? I'm just curious as to why you called it out in your-- in the presentation specifically.
Yes. Yes. Thanks, Grant. The reason for calling it out is that there is some judgment in whether you consider that to be true debt or whether it's more of an equity. And in reality, it's just how those shareholders chose to fund their share in -- those partners chose to fund their share in the project, which is more efficient from a tax perspective, et cetera, whether it's a loan, whether it's an equity injection. So some companies would present excluding shareholder loans, some would present including. So we're just putting it there so as people can make their own views as to which they consider to be the most appropriate measure.
But I think the important thing is that when you're comparing the debt number with an EBITDA number in terms of the leverage in the business that you're comparing like-for-like, i.e., it's either 100% of one and 100% of the other or if you take an attributable EBITDA, then it would be fair to take the shareholder loans out. So that's the reason for showing it.
Okay. And is there any sort of specific terms -- are you expecting to have to pay that back? Or are you sort of seeing it more as an equity?
They do get paid back over time, and they have been paid back. So those balances on -- the most significant one is in Quellaveco with Mitsubishi, and that balance is coming down quite quickly over time given the strong performance of the business.
And then perhaps just a follow-up one. Just in terms of your copper cost guidance, is it a case that you've obviously lowered it. Is it a combination, I'm guessing so, of better byproduct realizations in the first half and then also higher assumptions in the second half that has allowed you to drop that guidance.
When you say higher assumptions, higher assumptions in the second half, on?
Or higher assumptions versus your initial setting at the beginning of the year.
Yes. When you look at the makeup, then effectively, take Peru as an example, $0.45 in the first half, moving up to $0.65 for the full year guidance, then that would imply -- you can see it's not -- the second half is not quite at the original guidance level of $1.0. And therefore, our assumption on pricing, as I said, is not quite at current spots, but it's probably somewhere between our previous conservative assumptions, which was based on last year's pricing and what we achieved in the first half. So still a little bit of opportunity there through the second half.
Alan Spence from BNP. Just actually following up on the unit costs. You mentioned the more conservative byproduct assumptions into the second half. But is there anything on a gross basis? I'm just talking about Quellaveco here that you see inflationary or a headwind to cost into the second half?
Into the second half, I mean, the main one would be what's happening with oil, stroke, diesel. And that we saw that through the first half of the year that the oil price on average was about 20% higher than the first half of the prior year, given the sensitivity for what would come through there. I mean I think difficult to say, but nothing dramatic in the sort of gross cost beyond diesel in terms of uncertainty.
And as I said in the presentation, I'm really delighted with the -- how we've managed to manage those controllable costs through the first half. And so nothing surprising to come through in the second half on that.
Okay. And then back to Peabody, without asking you any kind of dollar amount, what are the pockets of compensation you'll be looking to go to? Is it what care and maintenance you had to do? Is it what a typical break fee would have been if there had been one? Or what are the little pockets you'll be going for?
Yes. I mean, listen, it's a complex legal process to go through. So again, I wouldn't want to comment on any live legal dispute. And I think take us at our word that we're very confident. We're initiating, we're pursuing. And when we have something to say, we will say it. So nothing more I can really say at this point.
It's Patrick Mann from Investec. I've just got one quick question left that hasn't been asked already. Just on De Beers sale, are you still considering the capital market options that you were talking about before? Or are you progressed far enough with the sale that you're confident this is going to be the exit mechanism?
Yes. No, Patrick. I mean, we -- one, we don't think that the market has capacity for a listing of De Beers at this particular point in time. But we probably got there a good few months ago, to be honest with you, and that was also helpfully supported by the fact that we had some real traction in the divestment process with a number of parties that were all deeply strategic type of partners. So we drew some confidence from that. So there is no work going on the listing at this particular point in time. But to the extent that we ever did need it, we'd have to revisit it at that point. But -- so right now, it's a trade sale that we're looking at.
Ben Davis, RBC. Just 2 quick questions. One on possible Canadian indexation proposed changes with the S&P. Does Anglo Teck qualify with a Canadian nexus? And then also just quickly on De Beers, assuming Botswana does give its blessing any regulatory hoops after that?
Okay. We have a czar in the business for indexation, and that is Mr. Broda. So I'm going to ask him to answer that question for you directly.
Great. Thank you very much, Ben. And thank you, Duncan, for bestowing the czar status for that. Let's all pray for me, especially it doesn't go wrong. So what's happened is that the S&P/TSX has come out back in April. They came out with a market consultation. So they were asking the market for feedback on any -- on the potential for adding companies that have material business in Canada but are not domiciled in Canada to the TSX Index, which is obviously very relevant for Anglo Teck. And I think there's a very widespread base of support within the financial markets in Canada across the country for wanting it to be in the index.
And so this is what the consultation was for. They finished that consultation a few weeks ago. I think it was last week. They've now come out with an official rule change consultation. So it's the same thing, but this one is based on a specific rule. It would mean that it would be 50% attribution to Anglo Teck within the index. But I think from a binary perspective, just being part of that index means we'll be part of the Canadian capital markets infrastructure, which we're very excited by with some great investors and obviously, the whole analyst cohort there.
It is expected that, that will finish at some point over the course of the summer, and there will be a determination on a rule change at the start of September. And from that point, I'm not sure exactly how the mechanics will work with the timing of close and when we go right in, but we would be, in theory, eligible if that rule change was to go through. So it should be early September, we get an update there. And back to you, Duncan.
Very good answer, Tyler. Good job. So on the statutory approvals for De Beers on a sale, of course, they will be. And to some extent, it does actually depend on the final makeup of the consortium that we put together. I think we can probably expect the likes of the U.S., China, Europe and so on to be involved at very least in this thing. I mean the estimate is about a year, but we'll confirm that when we do the transaction.
All right. And with that, Myles, I have the mic now. And therefore, that is the end of the Q&A session. Duncan has to go off to do some more interviews, so we'll have to close it there. But yes, just I don't know if you have any last words, Duncan, or if you just close.
No, Tyler, look, thanks, everybody. It's, as I say, a good half, I think, building off some tough work that we had to do in terms of resetting the portfolio and changing the accountability model within the business. It's mining. There are always going to be ups and downs in it, but I am confident that we've got the right people in the right place to deal with that and very pleased with where we are, both from an operations point of view and from a transformation point of view and very excited by ultimately getting the merger complete so we can build on the strengths of both of these companies.
And any other further questions, obviously, we're around. So thank you.
Anglo American — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
Solid H1: copper-led margins improved, portfolio disposals progressing and merger with Teck is the main upside—permits and regulator timing are key risks.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- EBITDA: $4.1B for the simplified portfolio (+31% YoY) with a 46% margin.
- Underlying earnings: $1.0B (+60% YoY).
- Copper: 344kt in H1; on track for 700–760kt FY guidance.
- Net debt: $8.2B (down from $8.6B); leverage ~1x EBITDA.
- Dividend: $0.23/share (40% payout policy).
🎯 What Management Says
- Merger focus: Anglo American expects to close with Teck to form "Anglo Teck" — management highlights operational synergies and a larger low-cost copper footprint.
- Portfolio simplification: Sale of Steelmaking Coal to Dhilmar (up to $3.9B) progressing; De Beers divestment targeted H2 close, Venetia production paused to preserve cash.
- Copper strategy: Emphasis on near-term, low-capex copper growth (Los Bronces/Andina, Collahuasi/Quebrada Blanca integration) and operational excellence to protect returns.
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- Copper costs: All-in copper unit cost improved to $1.36/lb (12% reduction including byproduct credits); Peru FY guide ~$0.65/lb, Chile ~$2.10/lb.
- CapEx & costs: 2026 CapEx guidance reduced by $0.4B to $3.2B; $0.2B special restructuring/merger costs and $0.5B non‑cash lease impact expected.
- Risks: Merger timing contingent on China's SAMR and permitting (Collahuasi desal review); weather remains a material operational risk (coal).
❓ Analyst Q&A
- Collahuasi desal plant: Environmental tribunal set aside the permit; management hopeful for restart within ~6 months but long-term stability needs the desalination asset.
- Merger timeline: Integration planning well advanced but SAMR approval remains the final regulatory hurdle—completion expected later this year or early next.
- Copper projects: Collahuasi–Quebrada Blanca integration under technical work (potential +175kt pa for ~$2B); Los Bronces/Andina JV moving to permitting (~3 years typical timeline).
⚡ Bottom Line
- Summary: Results show clear benefit from higher copper exposure and byproduct credits, stronger margins and reduced leverage; portfolio disposals and the Teck merger offer material upside but hinge on regulatory and permitting execution.
Anglo American — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Okay. Good morning, everyone, and a very warm welcome to Anglo American's 2025 Results Presentation. Just a few words from me before I hand over to Duncan and John. Of course, first, as always, safety. It's our very first value and our #1 priority, and we are making very, very good progress. We recorded our lowest ever total recordable injury frequency rate last year. But in spite of this great progress, we actually had two workplace fatalities last year, tragic and of course, unacceptable.
Duncan will mention this and talk a little more about it in his presentation, but let me add that we cannot and will not rest until we are consistently achieving zero harm. So now as many of you know, 2025 was a year of transformational progress at Anglo American. We've executed major portfolio changes to unlock substantial value for our shareholders, and that has paved the way for what we now see as the next step in our journey and our strategic phase of value creation. And that is, of course, to form a global minerals champion in the shape of Anglo Teck, setting up exceptional investment exposure to copper in particular.
Now whilst offering compelling value, of course, through the exceptional synergies, both industrial and other, this combined entity will be set up also to create long-term value based on the many things that these two companies have done so well over so many years, focusing on safety and health, being responsible and inclusive, environmental stewardship and social progress for our many stakeholders.
Our Board looks very much forward to progressing this formidable combination towards completion once we have received the final outstanding approvals. Briefly on Board changes, Anne Wade joined our Board at the beginning of last year as a Nonexecutive Director, joining also our Audit and our Sustainability Committees. She's already made a significant contribution to our Board discussions, particularly bearing in mind her deep buy-side capital markets experience. And then in December, Hixonia Nyasulu stepped down after 6 years with the Board, and we thank Hixonia for her many contributions to our discussions over that time. Thank you. That's it from me.
Let me now hand over to our CEO, Duncan Wanblad. Duncan?
Good morning again to everybody, and thank you for that introduction, Stuart. As Stuart said, a pretty big year for us in 2025 and one that I do think was pretty transformational in the context of Anglo American's history. We had significant strategic delivery, laying very strong foundations for the next phase of our journey, which will be in the form of Anglo Teck. Now those of you who are regular attendees at our results will recognize this slide particularly. It is the 3 pillars of our strategy, which is operational excellence, portfolio optimization and growth. And these are the key drivers of how we move this business forward. And 2025, as I said, was a year with substantial execution progress against each one of these three objectives.
My pages got stuck together, so I nearly got to the conclusion. Questions, Jason.
Starting off with operational excellence. Our focus was unwavering here and I believe continues to drive the right results for us. We've got very high-quality assets, and we are running them very well with a focus on maximizing returns for the long run, which is after all and after safety, the most crucial deliverable for our shareholders. Our copper and iron ore businesses have performed very well, delivered on their 2025 production guidance with effective cost control across the businesses, seeing us deliver our cost savings targets, and John will talk about those a little bit later.
Now these cost savings were supported by the delivery of the recent head office transformation program that we ran, which resulted in a 21% headcount reduction. The growing stability in our asset base is allowing us to better identify and manage risks early and also to increasingly realize opportunities within the businesses. The evolution of our culture to prioritize and drive local accountability, where people on the ground actually have the power to shape the best outcomes is enabling these results.
The portfolio optimization also took great strides forward during the course of last year, and I'm thrilled with the execution of the PGMs demerger. The successful demerger of Valterra and the full sell-down of our residual 19.9% stake has helped to unlock material value for our shareholders. And of course, very helpfully, we raised approximately $2.5 billion out of those sell-downs, which went a long way to helping us delever our balance sheet. We continue to work towards streamlining the business, and I'm going to talk a little bit more on that later on when we get to the transactions underway.
Copper is absolutely at the forefront of our growth ambitions. Finalizing the agreement with Codelco to implement a joint mine plan for our adjacent operations, Los Bronces and Andina, was a truly remarkable transaction. It in and of itself unlocks $5 billion of pretax value across the complex and more copper tonnes for both companies as well as for Chile with minimal incremental CapEx. We've demonstrated what is possible when we can come together as an industry and partner with each other, and that translates, I believe, into compelling industrial synergies with huge significant upsides. And finally, we announced the merger with Teck to create a global critical minerals champion. The merger will position us in an increasingly competitive landscape to be able to create substantial value through industrial and financial synergies and cement the combined company as a world-leading copper producer.
Now since announcing the merger in September of last year, we've made very good progress in forming Anglo Teck. Over the recent months, we've achieved several major milestones. First, overwhelming support from our shareholders on both sides. Several major regulatory approvals have already been secured, including the approval under the Investment Canada Act at the end of last year. Our focus now is, of course, moving to integration planning, and that is progressing at pace as we work together with Teck to find the optimal organizational structures, the optimal systems and processes that will make this the most outstanding business in the sector.
We have had fruitful conversations in the context of integration planning. As I said, the new Board and management team will be formed on completion, and we are aiming to hit the ground running in Vancouver from day 1.
I will continue to oversee the crucial integration work together with Jonathan, that our teams are now progressing jointly ahead of closing. I would hope that everyone will understand that this is going to now take some time during the course of this year, which will mean that we're not going to have a lot of new news publicly certainly anyway until we get much further along this process. We still do expect completion around 12 to 18 months from the date of announcement. So closing, our best estimate remains now somewhere between September of this year and March of next.
Real process is still to happen are the regulatory processes, which includes China. So we've got South Korea and China to go. These processes are on track, and we'll update you all as that happens. Once these processes are cleared, we would expect the path to completion to be relatively swift with the $4.5 billion special dividend payable to the Anglo American shareholders of record on or around completion. I remain really excited by the benefits that this merger is going to deliver.
Now moving to safety. And as Stuart said, this is absolutely our first priority and will continue to be our first priority. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there isn't a single tonne of any material that we produce that is worth the cost of a human life. And during the first half of this year, we sadly had to report two fatalities in separate incidents at our managed operation. One was in Brazil, a projects contractor working on our filtration plant in Minas-Rio, who fell from heights and the other in an LHD accident in Unki in Zimbabwe just prior to the demerger of Valterra. These tragedies weigh very heavily on all of us and in the starkest terms, I think, remind us of the critical importance of running a safe business.
There is always going to be more work to do, but I am encouraged by the improvement that we're seeing in our injury rates across the business with the frequency rates now, as Stuart said, down to the lowest recordable levels in the history of the company and 20% lower than they were last year. We're driving on the right path with the right trajectory, and this is enabled by the critical action programs that we've installed in the business and further strengthen our focus on the most impactful safety actions as well as leaders having the time to spend in the field and more meaningfully engage with the frontline teams and specifically on safety.
In 2026, we're going to continue to strengthen that approach with our leaders and allowing them to spend even more time in the field. We do this by, as I said to you a couple of years ago, ruthlessly prioritizing their work and simplifying the work that they need to do, and that gives them time to properly engage with the people doing the work, not only in a one-way conversation, but in a two-way conversation that helps us understand better how we can design the work for people to execute. These changes reflect our unwavering commitment to safety as the foundation of stable, predictable and high-quality performance. We have more work to do here, of course, but the progress is clear and our focus remains firm.
Turning then to our operational performance and our outlook. I'm very pleased with the performance that we've seen in our copper business during 2025 and the fact that it met its production guidance. In Copper Chile, as you know, Collahuasi will be going through a much lower grade phase in 2026 with performance expected to improve significantly from 2027 onwards as they access the fresh ore in the Rosario pit. Pleasingly, we are also seeing the benefits of our previous reset to the Los Bronces mine plan, and that has restored both optionality and flexibility within that business. The team has delivered really well on the development of Donoso 2. Donoso 2, as you all know now, is the next production phase of the mine, and it is characterized by much higher grades than where we're mining today and slightly softer ores. So coupled with the very strict cost control and discipline that's being embedded across the business, this has enabled us to reassess the economics of restarting the second plant at Los Bronces in light of the current copper price environment.
So we have now restarted that plant, and it will deliver cash-generative tonnes throughout 2026, but we will need to shut it down again, of course, at the end of the year because we need the water that we use to run that plant to move a tailings dam to be consistent with our GISTM commitments. That's the Perez Caldera tailings dam. We will then obviously have a lot more flexibility on restarting this plant again permanently when we combine the two mines, Andina and Los Bronces closer to the end of the decade. Our newest copper mine in the portfolio, Quellaveco, has delivered strong operational financial results with throughput exceeding the design capacity.
And while we continue to increase our understanding of this ore body, which is pretty typical for new mines, Quellaveco remains positioned as a high-quality, high cash flow generative asset, operating stably producing around 300,000 tonnes of copper a year in the coming years. And although Quellaveco is not going to have the same long-term grade benefit that will accrue to the likes of Collahuasi or Los Bronces over time, the mine is an absolutely key asset in the portfolio and provides a very strong base for expansion in Peru.
We are now entering a phase where we should see rising copper volumes without doing too much differently. The stripping at Collahuasi will have caught up, and we will be fully into Donoso 2 at Los Bronces. This should drive around 125,000 tonnes of lower risk growth in the short term. After 2028, we will be approaching the integration for our two major JVs, leading to the next leg of growth, which I'm going to speak about a bit later. And then the new Anglo TecK will also have substantial optionality into the future.
Turning to the iron ore business, which has been demonstrating consistent and strong performance. In South Africa at Kumba, preparations are now well underway for the UHDMS tie-in, which is set to happen later this year at Sishen. That project is progressing to plan and on budget, and we see the production will be down around 4 million tonnes during the course of this year as we do that tie-in because the DMS plant is offline as we do it.
We do, however, have -- I mean we have, however, prepared and do have ample stock available, which we will draw down on during this tie-in period, and therefore, we should see sustained sales volumes to similar levels of those that we achieved in 2025 as a result. This is a project that is going to significantly increase the proportion of premium quality iron ore as it ramps up to full capacity by the end of 2028 and allows for more flexibility in our mining. We retain conviction in the long-term demand fundamentals for higher-quality products, where we expect to see increased price realizations as steelmakers decarbonize and as steel markets evolve.
Our Brazilian iron ore operation at Minas-Rio has really been the star of operational excellence during the course of this year. Despite the impact of the planned pipeline inspection, which was conducted in August of this year, production was broadly flat versus prior year. This is a testament to the focus of the team on continuous improvement to optimize an integrated system. This operational effectiveness will especially be helpful from 2028 onwards when the mine transitions from its current ore body in the soft, friable ores into areas with much more feed variability. Work to integrate even higher quality DR-grade Serpentina resources to supplement the production in 2030 is progressing well.
Turning now to portfolio optimization. In steelmaking coal at Moranbah North, following a very long journey with a number of stakeholders, which include our own workforce, the regulatory authorities in the form of the RSHQ and other industry safety and health representatives were very pleased to receive regulatory approval for a remote start of these operations back in November of last year. And in the couple of weeks -- in the last couple of weeks, so beginning of February, we received the final lifting of the directives by the regulator, which now enable the mine to ramp up in the normal course to full production.
There is also good news from Grosvenor. We secured approval for the first stage reentry back in August, and that enabled visual inspections, which then confirmed limited damage to critical infrastructure as a result of the fire there several years ago. The teams are now developing plans for a restart, which could enable longwall production to recommence from as early as 2027 under new ownership. Off the back of solid operational progress and the strong inbound interest that we have received over the last few months, we restarted the formal sales process at the end of last year. The first phase of the new tender process commenced in early January with us aiming to achieve an announcement of a sale during the second quarter of this year, and we are targeting completion by the end of this year.
There is healthy interest in our steelmaking coal assets. Long-term supply and demand fundamentals remain relatively attractive for this sector and prices have recovered in recent days. In nickel, we signed a definitive agreement with MMG back in February of last year for proceeds of up to $0.5 billion. The regulatory processes to complete the sale for the business are continuing. And now we have the final stage to go, which is the European Commission, but they have progressed this now into a Phase 2 review. So both MMG and Anglo American are working very closely with European Union to ensure that they have a complete understanding of what we believe a transaction -- that this transaction means to the market and one where we believe it preserves and actually may even enhance market competition.
Lastly, a word on De Beers, where we have now a very well progressed and responsible exit in the advanced stages of discussions with a select group of interested parties. All of these parties are strategic, and we are at the back end of our formal processes. We continue to have very constructive discussions with the government of Botswana, who, of course, are going to be crucial in the determination of the endpoint of this process.
With respect to diamond markets, although we have seen stability in the end market for natural diamond jewelry over the last 6 months or so, the diamond market remains very challenged, exacerbated by the increased supply, specifically from Angola and tariffs-driven uncertainty. We are focused first and foremost on achieving a responsible exit, but we will continue to work closely with the De Beers team on the actions required to optimize cash flow performance, both now and over time.
And as I've said before, with some of the best diamond mines as well as resources and marketing capabilities in the world, De Beers is very well positioned to emerge and thrive as the market leader and as the market recovers. We continue to believe that there is significant upside potential to this business for the right owners, and we continue to keep the market abreast of these developments.
And with that, I'll hand over to you now, John, just to take us through the '25 financial performance and the guidance.
Thank you, Duncan, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased with the financial performance of the business for this year. We delivered on our production and cost guidance as well as our $1.8 billion cost-out program and saw further reductions in working capital. This focus on total cost and cash is now firmly embedded throughout the organization and our performance management processes. These achievements are all evident in our financial results. But of course, as we progress through the portfolio transformation, the financial reporting again is complex. This slide aims to try and help navigate through that complexity. Our continuing operations include our end-state simplified business, but also include De Beers at least until the sales process is further advanced. While our discontinued operations include PGMs up to the demerger in May of last year as well as steelmaking coal and nickel.
So continuing operations EBITDA of $6.4 billion and earnings of $0.9 billion are not fully reflective of the high-quality financial profile of the go-forward business. The simplified business focused on copper and premium iron ore delivered $6.9 billion of EBITDA, 44% EBITDA margin and underlying earnings of $1.6 billion, benefiting from strong realized prices and delivery of our cost savings. De Beers reported negative $0.5 billion of EBITDA, and I'll come back to that in more detail later. The discontinued operations generated $0.1 billion of EBITDA in the year, reflecting 5 months of earnings from PGMs before the demerger, partially offset by losses in steelmaking coal following the operational incident at Moranbah North.
The effective tax rate for continuing operations was 52%. This reflects the impact of De Beers rather than any underlying tax rates with the go-forward simplified portfolio tax rate being 39%, as I'll explain shortly. The combination of continuing and discontinued operations has resulted in underlying earnings per share of $0.54, which translates into full year dividends of $0.23 per share, in line with our 40% payout policy. That includes the final dividend declared by the Board of $0.16 to be paid following shareholder approval at the beginning of May.
I'll now move on to talk through each of these areas in a bit more detail. Starting with the simplified portfolio, we've delivered a strong set of results. Our basket price was up 2% as higher LME copper prices were partially offset by lower benchmark iron ore prices. Realized prices, however, were up in both businesses, benefiting from provisional pricing impacts. Production was down 4%, mainly due to lower ore grades and recoveries at Collahuasi as we process stockpiles while developing the mine towards the sustainable higher grades expected from late 2026. There was also an impact from lower plant throughput at Los Bronces as the smaller processing plant was on care and maintenance.
Despite the lower production, revenue increased by 4% due to the higher realized prices. And when combined with our focus on costs, this flowed through to generate EBITDA of $6.9 billion, a 9% increase year-on-year. As you can see from the slide, copper and premium iron ore contributed $4 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively. Consequently, our EBITDA margin improved 2 percentage points to 44% with return on capital also higher at 17%, underlying earnings increased by 1% to $1.6 billion with higher net finance costs, partially offsetting the benefit from a lower effective tax rate with a simplified portfolio of 39%. This reduction in tax is driven by a lower unrecovered corporate costs and is broadly reflective of the blended rate across our operating jurisdictions.
Looking specifically now at our unit costs. In copper, we benefited from lower TC/RCs, partially offsetting the impact of lower production from Collahuasi. Quellaveco delivered another standout performance with unit costs of only $0.89 per pound. In our premium iron ore business, Kumba was broadly flat year-on-year, while Minas-Rio incurred higher costs from the planned pipeline inspection activities. And as you've heard me before say, I know the industry focuses on unit cost reporting, but we are focused on managing the total cost base. And on that basis, I'm pleased to show only a 1% increase year-on-year, reflecting good cost management across the business as well as the impact of lower volumes, which offset the impacts of stronger producer currencies, CPI and one-off impacts such as increases in rehabilitation provisions.
Looking now into the drivers of our continuing EBITDA after stripping out the impact of De Beers. Favorable realized pricing in copper and premium iron ore resulted in a $1 billion EBITDA uplift. That was partly offset by the stronger South African rand and CPI inflation, which together impacted EBITDA by $0.3 billion, while lower volumes from Copper Chile had another $0.3 billion impact. However, I'm delighted once again with our focus on cost savings this year. We realized gross cost savings of $0.6 billion, while cost headwinds of $0.2 billion, primarily from additional stripping at Collahuasi were fully offset by that $0.2 billion benefit from lower copper TC/RCs. The other bucket mainly reflects the nonoperational impact of increases in long-term rehabilitation provisions for Copper Chile, bringing EBITDA to $6.4 billion.
Over the last 2.5 years, we've committed to delivering total cost savings of $1.8 billion across our business operations, corporate overheads and initiatives. As a reminder, in 2024, we realized $1 billion of savings and at a run rate of $1.3 billion coming into 2025. We targeted to realize an incremental $0.5 billion in 2025 and have managed to deliver slightly ahead of that at $0.6 billion. That reflects $0.2 billion of operational savings from the business as well as $0.4 billion from corporate restructuring and initiatives. So we now stand with realized savings of $1.6 billion, and we've executed all the initiatives needed to achieve the total $1.8 billion, with the final $0.2 billion before the impact of dissynergies also of around $0.2 billion to be realized in 2026. Of course, we've embedded a strong cost culture through the organization and our core processes, which will support continuous improvement going forward, including through the Anglo Teck integration process.
Now moving on to our exiting business, starting with De Beers. Market conditions continue to be challenging, driven by the impact of lab-grown diamonds, U.S. tariffs and increased supply. As we came into the year, we were very focused on ensuring that De Beers was self-sufficient from a cash perspective. This meant that we undertook initial cost-out initiatives and drove inventory down by both managing production closely and responsibly increasing sales. You can clearly see the impact of these actions in the results. Sales volumes and revenues are up despite lower prices, while unit costs are down 8%. These actions could not offset the lower pricing environment, and so EBITDA was a loss of $0.5 billion compared to breakeven last year. However, the fact that we fulfilled a large portion of those sales from inventory meant that we reduced that inventory by $0.9 billion in the year and kept the business at broadly cash breakeven. This means that we now have midstream inventory at broadly normalized levels.
As part of our year-end processes, we undertook an impairment review of De Beers and have recognized a $2.3 billion impairment within special items. This reflects our latest views on the near-term adverse macroeconomic conditions and industry-specific challenges. Since last year, the key changes are largely attributable to an extended period of lower rough diamond prices, driven by a slower differentiation of lab-grown and natural diamond markets, continued weak China demand and increased supply. The impairment, along with other movements in capital employed, brings the carrying value of De Beers as a whole to $2.3 billion, of which our attributable share is $1.9 billion.
As we move into 2026, we will continue to focus on cash preservation. With less opportunity to release cash from inventory, we will be very focused on taking action to reduce structural costs and capital as we transition through this challenging market period and towards exit.
Briefly touching on our discontinued operations, EBITDA was $0.1 billion, reflecting lower PGM's earnings with only 5 months consolidated in 2025 and those 5 months being impacted by the flooding at Amandelbult. This was offset by a loss in steelmaking coal, given the impact of Moranbah and Grosvenor. This translated into an underlying loss of $0.3 billion. There was then a loss on demerger of PGMs that we reported in the first half of $2.2 billion, which drove the statutory loss of $2.5 billion. The net impact from the discontinued operations was a net cash impact, sorry, from discontinued operations was a $0.7 billion outflow for the full year, and I will explain this in a subsequent slide.
We continue to maintain a strong focus on cash generation. Our sustaining attributable free cash flow benefited from $0.6 billion working capital inflow, primarily from that reduction in diamond inventories. Excluding that benefit from De Beers, the go-forward business kept working capital broadly flat, which was a good achievement given the increased copper prices. This resulted in the conversion of operating profit to cash, including sustaining CapEx of 107% for continuing operations as a whole and 91% for the go-forward business. And this left sustaining attributable free cash flow for the year at $1.4 billion.
Moving on to net debt, we've seen a $2 billion reduction to $8.6 billion. The sustaining attributable free cash flow generated by the continuing operations of $1.4 billion more than funded growth CapEx as well as returns to shareholders. Discontinued operations resulted in a net cash outflow of $0.6 billion, reflecting the Jellinbah proceeds, offset by the impact of the PGMs demerger and the negative cash cost of steelmaking coal following those operational incidents. The overall reduction in net debt was therefore largely driven by the $2.4 billion proceeds from the sale of the residual 19.9% stake in Valterra, which happened in September and leaves net debt to EBITDA at 1.3x. Excluding shareholder loans, net debt stands at $6.8 billion.
The group continues to have a strong liquidity position, and I would expect to see leverage come down further as we conclude the remaining portfolio transactions, coupled with the strong underlying momentum in the go-forward business. On capital expenditure, we took decisive action in 2024 to reduce CapEx and rationalize the spend, and we've seen a 16% decrease in our CapEx in continuing operations to $3.3 billion, which was below our guidance. This has been supported by the establishment of our projects group, who manage a significant portion of our spend, thereby driving efficiency and effectiveness benefits across the group. Growth CapEx included $0.3 billion at Woodsmith as well as spend for the Collahuasi debottlenecking and the Kumba UHDMS project with a reduction year-on-year driven by our slowed approach at Woodsmith. Excluding De Beers, the CapEx for the simplified portfolio was $3 billion.
Turning now to our guidance. In 2026, our copper unit costs will increase to around $1.72 per pound from $1.50 per pound. This is mainly due to the impact of a stronger currency where we're assuming CLP 860 and PEN 3.2 to the U.S. dollar and in part due to the change in production mix between Los Bronces and Collahuasi. Our premium iron ore unit cost will be around $41 per tonne, once again, predominantly driven by stronger producer currencies with ZAR 16 and BRL 5.3 to the dollar incorporated, but also reflecting the tie-in of the tailings filtration plant in Minas-Rio.
On our other 2026 guidance, the group underlying effective tax rate for our continuing operations is expected to be between 44% and 48%, subject to the mix of profits and timing of the exit of De Beers from the portfolio. It's not shown on the slide, but our long-term guidance for the simplified portfolio, excluding De Beers, remains unchanged at 38% to 42%, in line with the 2025 outcome that I shared earlier. Continuing depreciation will be between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion, a slight increase from 2025, reflecting some major projects coming online in copper, such as the Collahuasi desalination plant.
From a cash flow perspective, next year, we're expecting around $0.2 billion of restructuring and merger costs. And from a net debt perspective, we expect a one-off noncash impact of $0.5 billion from the recognition of lease liabilities associated with the Los Bronces integrated water solution project that will ramp up during this year.
Moving on now to CapEx. Clearly, all of our capital allocation decisions for 2027 and beyond will be shaped by the merger with Teck, which will only be determined by the new Board in the period post completion. As such, our CapEx and asset plans will, of course, be subject to revision in due course. But in the meantime, we expect CapEx for the next 3 years for the simplified portfolio to range between $2.6 billion and $3.1 billion, which is very close to our previous guidance. We also expect De Beers's CapEx to be around $0.5 billion in 2026, similar to previous guidance, but slightly higher than 2025 due to deferred spend at Venetia Underground, although we will obviously be keeping that under close review.
Sustaining CapEx for the simplified portfolio over the long term will be around $2 billion per annum with fluctuations over the next few years, reflecting modestly higher stay-in business CapEx across a few of the businesses. On our growth CapEx over the next 3 years relative to previous guidance, we're seeing lower capital spend come through in copper due to the Los Bronces/Andina joint mine plan and the potential Collahuasi QB adjacency as we pursue more capital-efficient options.
On Woodsmith, we will be spending less than in 2025, at $250 million of CapEx in 2026 and 2027, in addition to $50 million of OpEx as we continue to work towards having at least a real option for consideration over the coming years. This is, of course, still guided by our three conditions needed to move towards final investment decision. Those three options -- those three conditions being a completed feasibility study, having the project syndicated and our balance sheet being in robust financial health. This will be in 2028 at the earliest, at which time the Board of Anglo Teck will be able to consider this project within the context of the wider portfolio.
To finish off, I'll recap briefly on the key financial messages. Our focus on safe and stable operations as well as structured cost control is driving strong EBITDA margins across our copper and premium iron ore businesses. We've successfully delivered our $1.8 billion cost-out program with realized savings in 2025, slightly ahead of plan. Strong cash conversion reflects our focus on working capital management and capital efficiency. And together with the proceeds from the sell-down of our stake in Valterra, we reduced net debt by $2 billion with further deleveraging expected as we secure proceeds from the divestments of SMC, nickel and De Beers. All of this means we look forward with confidence as our reshaped portfolio will deliver higher margins, higher cash conversion and higher returns on capital employed.
Thank you, and I'll now hand back to Duncan.
Thanks, John. So turning now to the biggest component of our go-forward business, which is copper. If you go back 100 years and look at the copper returns on capital employed, it helps to contextualize, I think, the current copper price environment. So while copper prices may be at record levels in nominal terms at the moment, the increase is only now just starting to translate to the returns that we've seen in comparable historic situations. This makes sense in the context of the inflation in capital intensity and operating costs that has been experienced, especially since COVID. This is also very unlikely to be a short-term phenomenon given the combination of structural demand growth and the extended length of the capital cycle on the supply side, which has been key to extended upward trend patterns in the past.
This is where the inherent value in our portfolio of copper assets and growth pipeline optionality really shines through. We have world-class assets well positioned to benefit from this upturn. And for Quellaveco, for example, that means it's now on track to deliver a capital payback this year, only 4 years after first production, which in and of itself is quite an incredible milestone.
So this follows on well to the next slide, which says that the copper industry has generally been pretty awful at estimating costs for new projects. The chart on the left here shows that the average milled copper head grade for new greenfield projects is materially lower than the current installed capacity. But despite this, the estimated average capital intensity for new projects is at $19,000 a tonne, and that is materially lower than actual projects that have actually been built since 2010, which are at almost $30,000 a tonne adjusted for inflation.
So we have two key things going in our favor in copper. One is our project development and sustainability capabilities, and I'll talk about that on another slide in a moment. But second is that we have a much lower starting point relative to the intensity of our capital projects than the industry average. This difference in our growth profile where we will have the ability to develop less complex brownfield adjacencies should reduce the risks around the magnitude of the potential cost overruns that have consistently plagued the industry over time.
As we move through the merger with Teck, we will have a host of projects to choose from that further cement this low capital intensity base. One such option is the Collahuasi-Quebrada Blanca adjacency, which we've talked about in some detail when the merger was announced. The industrial synergies are really attractive there, and it is also very capital efficient. There is, of course, plenty of work to do to make this a reality, and that's getting underway now. The focus now is on working towards the right plan to optimize that value, and we are working with our other stakeholders to achieve this common goal. We have extensive experience in negotiating adjacencies, so we are well aware of the commercial considerations that will be required. This is an opportunity to drive substantial value creation for all.
Just to note, as it relates to the broader copper pathway, no decisions have been made about the sequencing of projects in the combined portfolio, and all of this will need to be planned within the capital allocation framework that we will have to put in place for the merged company. However, the slide highlights that we do have the benefit of many options to consider.
Our project delivery and development capabilities are the foundation of how we expect to create value from this growth pipeline. Our approach to project development is a fully holistic one. Our study and project teams are focused on investing both the time and the money upfront on the right type of analysis underpinned by years of expertise and experience in delivering well-sequenced brown and greenfield projects, which inform the optimal development pathways for the growth options that we have.
We believe that this rigor in our studies approach is a differentiator, enabling projects to be confidently delivered at pace. Given the recent uptick in commodity prices, we do expect that the industry more broadly is likely to rush to bring tonnes online. And history has shown that this less mature approach leads to having to build and adjust plans in the field as risks reveal themselves pretty late on in the execution. And therefore, you have less flexibility for adjustment, and that typically is much more detrimental to project returns.
The other side of the project development capability, which drives our differentiated positioning is sustainability. Our capabilities there have been built up over decades. Sustainability is not something that is stand-alone. Environmental and social considerations are deeply integrated into the way that we design and develop our mines, operate our assets, market our products and leave an enduring benefit, we believe, to the environment and the communities at the end of the life of a mine.
As a responsible operator with a long-standing reputation to match, we have the experience and track record, which helps secure our social license to build projects and supports our ability to access future development resources and opportunities, both from the significant endowments within our business as well as more broadly.
In the same vein, our sustainability strategy is designed to enable our business ambitions and is focused on three key themes that will be familiar to you certainly since 2018. These are being a trusted corporate leader, enabling a healthy environment and supporting thriving communities. We have been updating the strategy for our simplified portfolio, ensuring that it is aimed at protecting and creating value for the business and for all of our stakeholders with a real impact tailored at the local level, the communities and the natural environment around our operations where it matters the most.
Now to be clear, our update work has so far only been focused on Anglo American simplify portfolio, and we will now need to work together on the Anglo Teck sustainability strategy. This will, of course, need to follow completion of the transaction. But given the associated time lines of that, we wanted to provide the market with an interim update. And on that basis, a little later today, Helena Nonka, who is our Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, will be joined by Patricio Hidalgo, who is the Chief Exec of our Copper business in Chile; and Mpumi Zikalala, who is the CEO of Kumba in South Africa for a webcast panel discussion and Q&A on the way that we are evolving sustainability in Anglo American and why we believe that is a real enabler of value creation. So please do join that session and learn a little bit more about how we're putting all of this into practice.
In conclusion, we've had a truly transformational year. The business continues to embed operational excellence and leaves us well positioned to deliver strong performance in the coming years. We are working hard on the final elements of our portfolio transformation alongside the final regulatory approvals to create a global critical minerals champion. The merged company will have an outstanding portfolio with leading exposure to copper and other commodities and products with a structurally attractive outlook. That includes a variety of pathways to accretive expansion in shareholder value, including some of the most exciting adjacencies that exist in the mining industry today as well as a number of project development options.
We know there is plenty to do again this year, but we are completely energized by the opportunity and the belief that we are creating something very special here indeed.
And with that, Tyler, I'll hand over to you to moderate the questions.
Great. Thanks very much, Duncan. I see Liam is in the Golden Chair here today. So here you are.
2. Question Answer
Liam Fitzpatrick from Deutsche Bank. Just had 2 or 3 questions on Collahuasi and QB and kind of the timing and process. So I think you originally said you wanted to begin construction from 2028. So can you walk us through when you would hope to reach an agreement with Glencore and the other partners and when you would need to make the relevant permit license applications to meet that deadline?
I think Glencore has said recently that they would like to be a kind of equal owner with you in that future JV if that's where it heads. Is that a deal breaker? Is that on the table? And final quick one, has your team visited QB since the due diligence in the summer? And are you happy in general with how the TMF work is progressing?
Okay. Thanks, Liam. Look, the baseline for growth at Collahuasi is the fourth line. And that has a very key milestone in and around the back end of 2027, where you have to commit to the development of the fourth line. Once you start deploying large amounts of capital into a new plant, that starts to materially impact the viability and the returns associated with the combination of Quebrada Blanca and Collahuasi. So around 28 on current production rates at Collahuasi is when we would need to be sure that we are going down the combined mine path or we are taking a stand-alone fourth line pathway.
I mean it is clear to me that based on all the economics that I've seen of both of those options that the combined QBC option is by far and away the most attractive, not least of all because of the lack of complexity, relatively speaking, in terms of building that plant and infrastructure, but also because of the capital intensity associated with it. And that's a very big driver of returns in the copper mining industry. So on that basis, we really do need to get a crack on and we need to get the ownership arrangements sorted out. We need to get the shareholder agreements in place and move on.
I'm very well aware of Gary's wishes. We have had a conversation. So Gary and I directly, he's been very forthright in terms of what he would like at the end of the day. I have been similarly forthright as to what I would like at the end of the day, and now we are negotiating. I'm not sure what Gary will choose to do here, but I won't negotiate this in public. So we will just keep going until we've got a plan that makes sense for all shareholders and get it done as quickly as we can because the value at stake is pretty high here.
I don't believe we have actually visited [indiscernible] Quebrada Blanca since the diligence in -- just before the announcement in September. But I do know that we have provided some assistance to Quebrada Blanca on the technical side in terms of them working through the most optimal way to manage the paddocks around the development of the tailings dam and provided some advice and information to them on the cyclone modifications that they have just installed and seem to be operating okay.
We'll go to Ian [indiscernible] back and forth with Russouw equally.
Ian Russouw from Barclays. First question on Woodsmith. It would be great to get a bit of details around that and how the feasibility study is going in the shaft. And around the -- I guess, how should we think about this partnership? Obviously, you mentioned a 25% equity stake. Is that a fixed number? Or can that swing around? And then secondly, just on De Beers, obviously, it's been great to see the working capital release sort of help bring that cash flows to neutral. You won't have that card to play this year in a still challenging market. How can you sell a cash negative asset? Are you confident that you can do that? And how should we think about the structure? Should we think about a sort of low upfront value and then deferred sort of number contingent on the recovery in the diamond market?
Okay. On Woodsmith, the progress of the feasibility study. So I think last year, this time, we were pretty clear on the three requirements that we needed to get to a point where we could ever even contemplate a full notice to proceed sanction for the project. One of those was a feasibility study. The second was a syndication and the third was having a balance sheet that was robust enough to carry the development of the project in its syndicated form forwards. Specifically to your question on the feasibility study. So in accordance with the slowdown plan, it's progressed really rather well during the course of last year. So they got to about 30 kilometers on the tunnel of 37 kilometers with a single tunnel boring machine, and we got pretty well into those sandstones.
The outcome of that experience in the sandstones is that we can absolutely mine at more than a meter a day, which was the key determinant point in terms of whether it was going to swing one way or the other. There's more water than we would like in those sandstones for sure, but the drilling rate is fine or the cutting rate is fine to support the current economics in the feasibility study -- in the pre-feasibility study. And then as far as the syndication is concerned, of course, we're delighted that Mitsubishi has taken an option on this thing. They have invested quite a lot in this thing, both directly into the project, but also in their own understanding of the end markets themselves. So Mitsubishi have now got a reasonably well-developed trading desk in fertilizers. They've developed an understanding and knowledge of this. And I think that, that gave them enough confidence to acquire an option for a 25% stake in the project if and when it gets to feasibility study. So I think that that's very positive on a momentum basis, but still a long way to go given the timing to get to feasibility.
I mean just on feasibility, the next hurdle now having understood the sandstones and the impact of sandstones to the project is to get close enough to the ore body, so we can put some lateral long holes on top of the ore body with some deflections down into it, and so we can start to characterize and define the detail of the ore body to help us develop a mining plan that will ensure the payback period if we sanction the project. And I think as John said, given all of that stuff that's going on, I mean, it's running exactly as per the slowdown plan at the moment, no chance of any of that happening before 2028.
On De Beers, regarding the working capital release, yes, I think Alan and the team did a really good job of that. And as John said, we now have inventories that are down more at sort of normal levels, the consequence of which is whilst there's probably still a little bit that we could do there, it won't have the same impact in 2026 as it did during 2025. The consequence of which is Alan and the De Beers team are looking really hard at other mechanisms of cash flow preservation during the course of this year. And some of those are going to be potentially big changes in terms of overhead costs and other areas of that De Beers have under management at the moment.
As far as the divestment process is concerned, I'm not really worried about that because the parties that we have in the divestment process all genuinely understand diamonds and diamond markets. All of them have deep experience in the type of cycles that are experienced in diamond businesses. And certainly, all of them recognize the deep value in De Beers and the quality of the assets that we have in De Beers, so not only the brand in the business, but also the quality of the underlying assets, particularly the Botswana assets. So I don't think that this has a material impact in terms of where we are in terms of the desire for a strategic buyer for the business. Of course, that will play through into the structure of the proceeds that you get for the business because if the business is cash flow negative for a while, it will need to be funded for a while. And I suspect that we will see some form of structure in the consideration of the business. So some upfront payment perhaps and then some contingent payments depending on the time it takes for the industry to recover.
We go to Ephrem?
Just a first question follow-up on De Beers again. I get it that like the participants in the bidding process are our industry veterans in the diamond industry. But at what point in time or at what parameters would you consider a spin-off or a spin-off to shareholders versus a demerger versus a sale? I mean, in terms of how much of that value deferral can you take versus a demerger. So I think just some criteria like the fertilizer, three points that will guide your decision, North Stars would be helpful.
Secondly, on copper, and the thematic in general, streaming has been a big sort of theme for all the diversifieds this result season. And you are one of the few people whose cost is actually going up year-on-year from a guidance perspective, presumably due to lack of precious metals credits. Is there some rabbit in the hat that you have, which we are not aware of where you could kind of stream and surprise the market?
Let me deal with that one first. There aren't really any rabbits in the hat because the streaming of the minor metals is a function of what's actually in the ground and the resources that we have aren't well endowed with silver and gold, unfortunately. The fundamental underpin to the costs going up, as John pointed out on his slide, are driven by two factors. The first of these is that we have strengthening producer currencies relative to the dollar. But at the same time, it also reflects the mix of products that we have during the course of 2026 relative to 2025. But that mix also changes back again in 2027.
So we're producing from the lower grade, higher cost Los Bronces mine more proportionately than we would be from Collahuasi, just given that we're moving through that pushback phase and still reliant quite heavily on some of the stockpile production during the course of the year. But as we move now into in 2027 back into the fresh ore in Rosario, that cost profile changes again because we're in that better, higher-grade ore. And at the same time, in 2027, we will have moved more around the mine in Los Bronces, and we'd be producing predominantly from the Donoso 2, which is a higher grade phase of the ore and so the costs will adjust associated with that too. So those are the two primary drivers. And unfortunately, I don't have enough silver and gold in the ore bodies today. Quellaveco has some silver, by the way, and doing very well out of that.
Can I just add on the cost point on the -- on that point on some silver at Quellaveco, our cost guidance doesn't assume those prices are at sort of current levels. So more consistent with a little bit more conservatism given volatility. So if we were to see silver prices stay up at sort of current levels, then there would be some upside to that cost guidance.
Your question on the spin of De Beers is a good one and slightly complicated in the context of if we were to spin De Beers today, it would be a real challenge in the context of where markets are and where comparables are for a company like De Beers. And therefore, we've chosen to prioritize the strategic sale of the business. This does not remove the option of being able to list De Beers at a time in the future, but it's unlikely to be in the current market environment. And therefore, the sale is the priority that we are focusing on right now.
Go to Myles, and we'll come back after that.
Myles Allsop at UBS. With the demerger, is there anything that could go wrong now? I mean, how have your discussions with the Chinese regulators been progressing? Is there anything kind of that we should be mindful of? And then thinking about the $800 million, obviously, you're doing more work. That was an audited number. How much upside do you see to the $800 million? That's the first question.
Myles, so there is actually nothing to comment about in terms of the China regulatory process as it is at the moment. It's pretty much going as we expected it to do at this particular point in time. There have been no odd asks at all, and we're just in the process of providing the information that they've required under the usual process at this point in time. So as I said, we expected fully that this would take sort of 12 to 18 months. Nothing has changed our view on that at this point.
As far as the $800 million go, I don't have a new target that I'm putting out in the public at this particular point in time. Safe to say that cost management is a very key component of what we think makes a successful mining company going forward. And we are in the process of developing a really strong muscle on cost management throughout the business. And I think you should expect that to continue as we go forward. So whilst there isn't another target at this point in time, we are still absolutely working on bringing the overall operating costs in the business down. As John said, we are less focused on C1 type of costs because it's like a balloon, you squeeze it here, it pops out somewhere else. I care a lot about the total costs in the business, and that's what we manage on a day-to-day basis.
And then maybe just a bit like the streaming question, infrastructure, and other assets in the portfolio, things like water assets, obviously with one at Collahuasi. Do you see -- are you actively exploring other opportunities to kind of optimize value through the portfolio? Samancor as well, I guess that's always one that kind of sits in the shadows and there's potentially a pathway to some restructuring there?
Yes. So I suppose the simplest answer to your question is we look through the portfolio all the time and look for these value-accretive opportunities. And to the extent that they are genuine and are long-lasting in their effect and not just a sugar hit, we will pursue them pretty rigorously. So that includes having a look at the infrastructure options that exist throughout the portfolio too. But very often, you are kind of hooked up on the back of the fact that unless you have multiple offtakers on a particular set of infrastructure, it still all flows directly through to your balance sheet on a look-through basis. So it doesn't really change much other than add potentially a margin that you're going to have to swallow somewhere along the line. But where there are opportunities, where there are multiple offtakers and you can do something with the assets, and it doesn't compromise the viability of the current operations or the potential future viability of expansion or development of those businesses, we look at that very closely.
Samancor, I mean, that's manganese. As I've said it before, that's a wonderful option that we've still got in the portfolio. It's producing really well. So now having come back after the cyclones in Australia a year ago. It's a nice little cash producer. I don't feel like I'm in a great rush to have to restructure anything on that at this particular point in time. I think it provides good optionality within the portfolio on a future basis.
All right. Let's geographically go with Dom.
Dominic O'Kane, JPMorgan. I just want to touch on Codelco. So you have a very strong and a very close working relationship with Codelco. So is there any update you can provide us with on your Andina conversations, but also how do you sense the engagement with Codelco is maybe changing for your organization and the industry more broadly? Do you see more opportunities for your group and the industry more broadly to work more closely and pursue those type of opportunities that Codelco has at its disposal?
Yes. Thanks, Dom. Look, I mean, you're right insofar as we've had a very long-standing relationship with Codelco given that they have been a partner of ours for many, many years now on Anglo Sur, which is on Los Bronces, El Soldado and the Chagres smelter. And certainly, through many years of that sort of partnership, the operational relationships have been excellent. So even before we did the Los Bronces/Andina deal, we had to work very closely with them in terms of managing operational interfaces on the border of Andina and Los Bronces, and that was generally very effectively done by the two general managers and the people working for them.
What we were able to do with the synergy and liberating that wages that exists between the two, dropping the huge expansion CapEx load on both sides of the fence, I think, is very much a function of how Codelco has been thinking for several years, certainly under the leadership of Maximo Pacheco. Given that these were hugely value-accretive opportunities for Codelco, very commercial in the way that they approached it and thought about it and just certainly given how I perceive it has been accepted nationally in Chile and within the various arms of government, I can't really see why that should change in the future.
Of course, we know we are going into a phase now where there's a new government in Chile and there could be some changes in the leadership of Codelco. But I think what fundamentally underpins, what's happened today is a very hard core commercial rationale and Chile is still very, very positive foreign direct investment growth and copper growth, particularly.
Jason?
Two quick ones. First one is on BHP. So you had a brief follow-up with them in November. Some investors were surprised it was so brief. So I don't know if that's a question for you or for the Board?
And maybe for Mike. No, I mean there was -- it was a conversation that was had and neither party felt it was worth pursuing after that conversation.
Okay. Second one, just to follow up on our favorite salt mine. How do you justify putting more capital into this when you're trying to capture a re-rating based on being seen as more of a copper pure play?
So it certainly is completely consistent with the strategy that we laid out and presented to the market in the middle of 2024. There's no new news in terms of this particular story, and it is the best value-accretive option that we've got for that asset. So it just makes sense in terms of option preservation to get it to a point where we rarely do know whether we can or can't take it forward from an investment point of view. Otherwise, it would be a massive write-off and that wouldn't make any sense given the direction of travel and what we understand of that asset today.
Can you just remind us the carrying value and the Sun Capital in the asset, Dunc?
John, can you?
Yes. We've -- the carrying value today is just around $2 billion and total invested capital over the period is about $5 billion.
Matt, please.
It's Matt Greene at Goldman Sachs. Probably just continuing Duncan with Woodsmith. You touched on the fact that you want to get through the sandstones to get to a technical point to underpin the feasibility study. You're now going and seeking $0.5 million to go that little step forward. So it sounds like this agreement with Mitsubishi that you're still taking on a lot of the risk here. So what do they -- do they need to see anything in particular here? And I guess just when it comes to bringing in further partners and syndicating here, are you -- what are you looking for in a partner? Because -- is this just a financial partner? Or are you looking at someone that's going to take perhaps disproportionate risk on the marketing side of this product?
No. So I think Mitsubishi are looking for exactly the same things that we're looking for in terms of a feasibility study. One is continued confidence in an ability to build the market for the product. And as I said earlier, they have developed an in-house capability to test that. So it's hugely validatory from our perspective that it's not just us in an echo chamber about how we think this product is landing in the market and how effective it is in the market. We've got a genuine independent view of somebody else who's trying to look at it through the same sort of lenses that we are. And of course, they are absolutely going to need to understand what the capital cost for development of this project is on a go-forward basis, and what the risk inherent in the development of that project is, and that can only be determined by a quality feasibility study.
They do cost a lot these feasibility studies. I'm completely cognizant of that. And -- but the reality is that this was true for Quellaveco 2, slightly different scale, but we had to spend a lot of money upfront to fully characterize the risk that we had in that ore body and in the development of the infrastructure around that ore body to know for sure that we had a very high probability of meeting the capital costs within the contingency that we had specified for that project. And this is no different, right? I mean these are -- if you want a proper and a secure understanding of what these projects are going to cost and how much they are going to likely to be -- to return to you, you need to do the homework upfront. And so it is this trade-off of how much you spend upfront versus how much of a risk or a gamble you're prepared to take on imperfect information and data to go forward on a project.
We elect to spend a little bit more upfront to get much better security of information and data that then defines not only the execution period of the project, but also the life of the project. And I think that, that was well underpinned by what we saw happen at Quellaveco, not only during the project development and execution phase, which is one of the very few projects in the industry in recent times that was absolutely on time and on budget. But not only that, it did kind of what it said it was going to do on the [ tin ] and reduced an 8-year payback period to a 4-year payback period. I mean that is real value going forward. And that's sort of what I believe Mitsubishi is looking at in the same way that we're looking at, very like-minded, right? Bear in mind, Mitsubishi is also our partner on Quellaveco.
In terms of do we have criteria for other types of investors. So Mitsubishi now have an option to go up to 25%. They're not limited to 25%. So if they chose to, they could go more than that if they would like to. And we are absolutely open to bringing on at least one more partner. The idea here is that it's not only financial. I mean financial risk mitigation is a very big important part of that. That's exactly why we brought on a partner for Quellaveco. But at the same time, to the extent that we can leverage a partner's capabilities, particularly in the mid and downstream of this is where we'd like it to go. And as I said, Mitsubishi is developing that capability. They have a very strong trading capability in that business anyway. So they have access to markets and are learning quite a lot about the product, too. So it's that type of partnership that we would see as very valuable going forward.
That's great. Sorry, if I could just have a follow-on on Collahuasi on the fourth line. Just to get your guidance next year, you had about, I think, $600 million on copper growth. Los Bronces was in there. Obviously, that's not happening anymore, and you had Collahuasi fourth line. There's no mention of that anymore. Should we read into that at all? This fourth line option has been floated around for 15 years or so. You presented your slides of how many options you have in the pro forma portfolio with Teck. If Glencore doesn't come play with QB, is there an option here that we could see the fourth line deferred again?
If Glencore doesn't?
Obviously, you want to get a QB scenario here. But is there a point that you actually decide as Anglo, you do not want to pursue the fourth line because you have alternative options?
No. Look, I mean, we'd never be churlish about this for sure. I mean what we're trying to do is, is mine the right resources in the right way and at the right time? The fourth line is an option, but it's certainly not the preferred option for Collahuasi. As I say, as I look at the pre-feasibility studies versus the concept studies and so on at this particular point in time, there is a much better option in terms of both risk and capital intensity by doing the combination of Quebrada Blanca and Collahuasi. I mean I would hope that all the partners would see it that way as we move forward. And certainly, I mean, that has been fundamentally the driver of the thesis for Collahuasi on all sides of the fence for a long time. It's -- now it is fundamentally how do we set up a new shareholders' agreement? How do we share the value of the synergies, and that's the negotiation.
We go to Chris.
Duncan, it's Chris LaFemina from Jefferies. So first, Jonathan mentioned yesterday on the call that you received U.S. regulatory approvals. You mentioned it again today. Is that like full Hart-Scott-Rodino, DOJ, FTC, U.S. regulatory approvals are done, which, in my opinion, would be a major step forward because of the fact that copper is a critical mineral now as per Congress and Teck's biggest shareholders are Chinese. I thought that would be a hurdle to getting this across the finish line. So are you fully done with U.S. regulations is the first question?
Yes. Well, certainly, all the regulations that we needed to have applied for consent under we have at this particular point in time. The only two outstanding are South Korea and China.
And then secondly, on Moranbah North, I think back in August, you said the run rate was costing you $45 million a month or something that was 6 months ago. In the last couple of months, has it been similar to that level? And then with the phased restart of the longwall now, and I think you referred to it as a structured restart of the longwall, what exactly does that entail? And what are the cost run rates on -- as you're ramping this thing back up?
Okay. John's probably got exactly the numbers, but of course, they will be lower for two reasons. One is from November, Moranbah South -- Moranbah North got back into production in a limited fashion, but there is actually coal being cut and it is being sold. That's point one. Point two, it's being sold into a higher price environment at the moment, which is also pretty helpful. But specifically, to your question about what is actually happening in terms of the ramp-up again at Moranbah North. First of all, the permission that we got to restart the mine in -- at the end of October last year, so really restart in November was conditional on the fact that when we were actually cutting coal with the longwall, we didn't have anybody underground.
Until such time as we got far enough away from what was believed to be the source of the incident. And during that period, therefore, we had to remotely operate the longwall, which is a good thing, right, because that's generally a more productive way of doing it over time. But because if you have a roof fall or anything that sort of impacts the whole chain and the longwall and so on, you have to stop. We had condition that said we had to see what happened to the atmosphere, the environment down there. They had to get to sort of stable levels in terms of carbon monoxide and then we could send people down. And so the gap between a stop and a restart was anywhere between 6 and 12 hours. So it's pretty unproductive.
We are now, as of the beginning of February, in a position that we can run the mine completely unrestricted in that context. We have an agreement with our own workforce to be about 120 meters away from where that incident occurred before we actually start running it in an unrestricted sort of fashion. We're at about 90 meters now. So another few weeks to a month is where we would now then be able to just start ramping up under normal conditions with the natural variations, which are attributable to that type of ore body.
Can we go to Alain quickly, if that's all right. And we keep it to one question from here on, as we've only got a few minutes left, if that's okay.
One question from my side, Duncan, is granted, you've got your hands full with completing the Teck transaction, but you've also got a very capable project team at Quellaveco. Do you see opportunities to leverage their capabilities in exploiting inorganic options such as partnership with other majors in Latin America where you can best utilize this team?
Alain, you are quite right. I have an absolutely capable team across all fronts. And certainly, [ Alan ] and the projects team are looking for every opportunity that they can as well as Helena and the business development team. And to the extent that there are opportunities for us, we would, of course, engage in those. They would have to fit all the criteria that we have in terms of how we allocate capital, how we manage risk in the business going forward. We don't have any external options that are on the table that you don't know about today in that space and particularly not in Peru at this point.
Tony?
Tony Robson, Global Mining Research. Possibly for John. Carrying values for De Beers, $2.3 billion. Could you remind us, please, I'm sure it's in the accounts. Is that before or after any debt within De Beers? Or is it net or gross? And secondly, any -- given it's a discontinued asset and you're much closer now to realizing its value or knowing what its value is, any accounting IFRS rules that say you have to market to market? So is that -- but I still assume it's on future prices, cost discount rates and so on, your $2.3 billion.
Yes. So the $2.3 billion is on an enterprise value basis. So of course, there is some intercompany funding within De Beers, but from a valuation perspective, that sort of nets out that sort of some capital from an Anglo American perspective. So the $2.3 billion, which is 100%, remember, not the Anglo American share is on an enterprise value basis. In terms of the accounting, then you have to sort of look at the fair market value and the value in use when you're doing your impairment assessment. So you have to take both of those things into account. So there is no absolute requirement to mark-to-market, but you, of course, have to take into account information you have around what that market value could be as you are forming the impairment assessment.
And we go to Ben and Alan quickly here.
Ben Davis, RBC. Just on De Beers, I was wondering if you could give us any color on the potential bidders. Has that settled down now? Has that bedded? It feels like we've had a lot of media reports of various government interest, consortium interest and how well financed those are? And also, are those consortium include governments, et cetera?
So they're all consortia that are involved. Some of them include governments and some of them don't. So there is a possibility that there will be -- our share will be sold in three parts potentially or two parts potentially. That depends on where we get to in the negotiation in the next few weeks.
Grant?
Patrick Mann from Investec. Can I just ask a little bit more on the time line? So it looks that the optimal scenario here would be dispose of steelmaking coal, close nickel and De Beers before Anglo Teck closes at the end of the year and pay the special dividend. Are you confident in the timing of that De Beers thing? Or could we see a scenario where Anglo Teck closes and you're still trying to exit De Beers post that fact?
And then I understand that your -- still your best estimate is 12 to 18 months. But given there's only two outstanding regulatory requirements, I mean, what is the soonest this could happen? I mean, could we wake up in a couple of months and it's done?
There is nothing in terms of the Anglo American portfolio restructure that is contingent on the completion of the deal with Teck. So the sequence that you described would be absolutely ideal if indeed we could make that happen. But there's no contingency of that to -- or contingents of that to the completion. So the consequence of that is that it is highly likely if the deal closes in that 12-month window, so around about September or so of this year, that De Beers will still be in the portfolio. I'm targeting, of course, to have it sold at that particular point in time, but it then will be running through its statutory and regulatory processes for completion. So it would be in Anglo Teck's portfolio until such time as it was gone.
In terms of the 12 to 18 months, I mean, I think theoretically, that there's not much change in that 12-month time. And therefore, that is the most likely period where we would expect it to be completed.
Very good. I think is that -- are there any other questions left in the audience? There aren't. Okay. Well, in that case, thank you very much for all of your questions at the end of a very long week. We really appreciate it. And I look forward to following up with you in due course. Thank you.
Thank you.
Anglo American — Anglo American plc, Teck Resources Limited - M&A Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Anglo American and Teck Resources Merger of Equals Conference Call.
[Operator Instructions] This conference call is being recorded on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo American; and Jonathan Price, President and CEO of Teck Resources. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Chuck, and good afternoon, good morning to everybody, and thanks for joining us at such short notice. Jonathan and I are delighted to be here together today in Vancouver.
Good day, everyone.
Please do refer to the cautionary statement and disclaimer with respect to certain non-GAAP measures that we will refer to. And further details are clearly available on our press release and on websites.
Today's announcement marks a truly monumental day for our mining sector. The merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources will create a world-leading copper and critical minerals producer that will create many billions of dollars of value for both sets of our shareholders. This is the most exciting corporate transaction that I have ever been part of and I certainly couldn't be more excited for our new joint future as Anglo Teck. This merger will allow us to continue the over 100-year legacy of both of our companies. and importantly, create a base that will allow us together to continue adding material value for our investors and stakeholders for decades to come.
This transaction has been designed to be a true merger of equals, and it is this unique partnership that will allow for optimal value in synergies and adjacencies to be realized from our portfolios for both sets of shareholders. The Anglo Teck will have more than 1.2 million tonnes of annual copper production anchored by 6 world-class copper assets with more than 70% copper exposure, making this one of the world's leading investable copper opportunities with scale. By bringing together 2 of the world's leading miners, we will have an enhanced ability to deliver strong operational performance. And it's not just about what we have been doing. This portfolio holds tremendous growth optionality for our disciplined approach and proven capabilities that will enable at expansion in the right way. and at the right time.
We have identified over $800 million in pretax recurring annual synergies. This is a substantial amount when compared to the size of the combined company. The recent simplification in our respective companies means that we are in a normal position to leverage the best in both of our companies. Anglo Teck deliver substantial operational efficiencies, will allow for commercial and functional excellence and will also benefit from economy sale. This will create billions of dollars of tangible value.
We have shown combining mining assets with industrial synergies is one of the most value-maximizing activities that you can deliver in the industry. The industrial logic of combining Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca is undeniable. They're running by running higher grade and softer Collahuasi through the Quebrada Blanca plant, we will generate at least $1.4 billion uplift in annual average underlying EBITDA by delivering an incremental 175,000 tonnes of annual copper production on a 100% basis. This will come at very low capital intensity of around $11,000 a tonne. And today's announcement is a massive step forward to unlocking substantial value creation for both sets of shareholders and our other partners.
Anglo Teck will benefit from a strong balance sheet underpinned by a larger, more diversified asset base with increased cash generation potential. Combining these dynamics with a continued focus on capital discipline and operational resilience, we will create a framework that enables us to make the right long-term decisions through the cycle. We will also have an increased global capital markets presence with our LSE listing as well as listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as well as the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.
We're also pleased to confirm that Anglo Teck's head office is to be based here in Vancouver. This makes logical sets. Our assets are mainly based in the Western Hemisphere, which means that our senior management will be in the right time zones. Canada is, of course, a country with deep mining expertise and a very rich history in the industry. Under Anglo Teck, we look forward to helping unlock Canada's vast natural resources and further accelerate Canada's economic ambitions. We will preserve and build on the proud heritage and strength of both companies in Canada and South Africa. Anglo Teck will continue to play a key role in the mining ecosystems of both countries drawing on our technical and sustainability expertise to support growth and investment ambitions, and we will leverage London's role as Global Center for Mining Finance.
And with that, let me pass now to Jonathan, who will run us through some of the transaction details.
Thanks, Duncan. Bringing our 2 companies together is fundamentally about driving value and creating a stronger, more resilient company. Anglo Teck will have a premier critical minerals portfolio and a diversified asset base that can better deliver the metals and minerals needed for the energy transition as well as wider economic development for decades to come. We believe that this combination is a perfect fit rooted in shared values -- with an unwavering commitment to deliver long-term value for our shareholders, employees and the communities in which we operate.
This merger creates a leading portfolio of copper assets. The combined business will be a top 5 copper producer with the incredible endowments offering significant scope to grow responsibly in a value-focused and disciplined manner.
We see that as a clear advantage while the broader industry faces challenges from increasing capital intensity and declining grades. Benefits from this transaction are differentiated and as we will unpack in the presentation, amounts to significant value creation with catalysts in the near, medium and long term. As Duncan mentioned, both of our companies have been undergoing significant portfolio transformations and are now well placed to further maximize value through this combination. The timing also allows us to take a definitive step forward in creating what will be one of the world's largest copper mining complexes with Collahuasi and Quebrada BlancaI'm delighted with the work our teams have undertaken to deliver what we believe is a great transaction for both sets of shareholders and wider stakeholders. This creates one of the world's leading copper-exposed mining companies with its headquarters here in Canada, drawing on a wealth of technical and management expertise from this country's strong mining and industrial background.
So now turning to the mechanics of the transaction. This is a merger of equals that will be implemented via a plan of arrangement. Anglo American will issue 1.3301 new shares to Teck Resources shareholders in exchange for each outstanding Class A and B share. Anglo American shareholders will receive a special dividend of $4.5 billion or $4.19 per ordinary share ahead of closing, creating an efficient opening balance sheet and allowing more balanced participation for both Anglo American and Teck Resources shareholders in future value delivery. An exchangeable share structure will be implemented for the benefit of Teck's Canadian shareholders.
Following the dividend, Anglo American and Teck Resources shareholders will have approximately 62.4% and 37.6% ownership, respectively, in the combined entity. From a governance and leadership standpoint, Anglo Teck will be a U.K. corporation with equal Board representation from Teck Resources and Anglo American, including Canadian and South African representation. The combination of our 2 companies' long histories and deep bench of technical skills, combined with very similar purposes and missions, gives us confidence that we will have the right team to drive these assets forward. As this is a true merger of equals, representation on the Board will be split evenly.
Vancouver, Canada will be the global headquarters for the business, with corporate offices to support the group in London and Johannesburg. Anglo Teck will thereby contribute to and draw on 3 key centers of mining finance and technical expertise to support its growth and investment ambitions. Country offices, for example, in Brazil, Chile and Peru will be retained to ensure appropriate direct support for operations and stakeholder engagement in each country.
In terms of process from here to closing, we are working to get shareholder approvals later this year. The Teck Resources vote requires 2/3 approval by both A and B shareholders. Assuming shareholder approval, the plan of arrangement will also require customary court approval in Canada. The issuance of new Anglo American shares will also be subject to the approval of more than 50% of Anglo American shareholders. The shareholder approval is expected to take place in parallel with the Teck Resources shareholder approval. Importantly, we've already secured agreements covering approximately 80% of Teck Class A shares that agreed to vote in favor of the merger and against any competing acquisition proposals.
Once the approvals have been secured, the transaction will then be subject to customary closing conditions, including approval under the Investment Canada Act, competition and antitrust approvals and other applicable regulatory approvals in various jurisdictions globally. The merger is expected to close within 12 to 18 months.
And with that, back to you, Duncan.
Thank you, Jonathan. Anglo Teck will be a true global critical minerals champion. The combined portfolio offers a leading exposure to copper representing over 70% of the business, supported by strong cash generation from premium iron ore and zinc. We will discuss the quality of the copper assets and the growth potential shortly, but this transaction delivers one of the most significant copper exposures amongst the large cap metals and mining universe, positioning Anglo Teck as a global leader in copper and aligning the portfolio and investment thesis far more closely with the top U.S. and LSE copper peers rather than the diversified.
We are very confident in copper's future. Medium-term demand dynamics remain robust, driven by decarbonization, rising living standards and increasingly accelerating demand from AI data centers and power grids. On the supply side, the wider industry faces grade decline with material investment required just to maintain output. Capital intensity of growth projects has also risen quite significantly since COVID, seeing returns on capital employed staying marginal.
For new supply to meet this demand, prices will inevitably need to rise. We are well positioned for the next phase of growth as compared with peers as we have growth options with very low capital intensity. Our combined skill set and large resource base will allow us to monetize the long-term copper opportunity with a greater degree of flexibility.
As you can see on this slide, Anglo Teck would rank fifth in terms of all copper producers worldwide with a path to improve this position through our growth options. However, amongst the primary copper-exposed companies worldwide, we will rank second in terms of true attributable production. This increased scale will also result in Anglo Teck being the largest primary copper producing company on the London Stock Exchange by a long way, while also allowing for global capital to access our unique scale and sector leadership through our other listings in Johannesburg, Toronto and New York.
Together, we bring 6 world-class copper assets into one portfolio. These are high-quality mines in established jurisdictions with large resources and long mine life and optionality for growth that highlight their significant value. While much of the industry invests heavily into offsetting declining grades, we are differentiated through requiring limited near-term capital investment, and this positions us well to generate strong free cash flow. There is near-term growth from the current portfolio as well. We expect that there will be around 10% copper production growth coming through by 2027, driven by the ongoing ramp-up at Quebrada Blanca, a return to higher grade production at Collahuasi and an increase in production coming from Los Bronces as we move back into the softer and higher grade ores there.
I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize our confidence in the long-term value and world-class nature of Quebrada Blanca and that there is a path to resolve these short-term issues. Our portfolio of high-quality assets has a competitive cost profile with a combined second quartile cost position. Our assets include world-class, long-life assets in the bottom half of the cost curve, anchored by ownership in Antamina, Collahuasi, Quellaveco and Quebrada Blanca. Adding on to that, our joint mine plan with Codelco is expected to drive further adjacency potential from as San Andina, which will continue to move us down the cost curve. And as Jonathan will outline shortly, we will also have optionality to move down the cost curve with the Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca.
Our copper portfolio is complemented by great assets in premium iron ore and zinc through important commodities with attractive fundamentals. Premium iron ore shares a key attribute with copper. They are both critical means by which the mining industry can support decarbonization and economic development. The zinc business provides another essential product for the global steel industry extending the longevity and resilience of infrastructure. In premium iron ore, our strong market position should deliver enhanced structural profitability in the short -- in to the medium term as steelmaking margins normalized and are still making inputs shift towards more demand for higher grade and premium inputs.
The Serpentina resource at Minas-Rio provides a scalable and high-quality opportunity to grow in what we believe is a very attractive premium iron ore niche. And the premium profile will be augmented by the under construction high -- ultra-high density media separation, or UHDMS project at Kumba.
Finally, these entities are generating meaningful cash flow, something we believe will become a further point of differentiation in the coming years, especially as surpluses have the potential to impact iron ores more meaningfully.
Turning to zinc. The Red Dog mine in Alaska is one of the world's largest zinc lines. Operating in a world-class mining district, Red Dog has the potential to extend its mine life well beyond current operations and continuous track record of strong cash flow generation. Zinc is set to benefit from rising global infrastructure spend in a market with limited new supply, and this fits well into the group's enhanced marketing capabilities.
Finally, there are no changes to Anglo American's announced portfolio simplification plans, which based on current expected time lines and subject to market conditions, should be complete by the time the plan of arrangement has been executed.
And now I'll hand back to Jonathan.
Thanks, Duncan. It's undeniable that integrating the neighboring Quebrada Blanca and Collahuasi assets could unlock substantial incremental value by sharing our resources and infrastructure and create potentially the largest copper complex in the world. These are the most compelling industrial synergies in the industry right now. Consistent with the action plan that we communicated to the market, we are currently working through the short-term issues at QB to unlock its full value. That work does not hinder us from driving significant longer-term value from this world-class asset. The combined complex will comprise of 2 extraordinary ore bodies, Collahuasi and QB. Part of the strong industrial logic comes from scaling mining of higher grade ores from Collahuasi. Processing Collahuasi all through 1 line of the QB plant would enable incremental annual output of approximately 175,000 tonnes of copper on a 100% basis from 2030 to 2040. And we expect the benefits to continue for many years thereafter.
There is also further upside if more tons are mined from Collahuasi during the life of mine. This option carries much lower capital intensity of only around $11,000 per tonne and lower execution risk than building additional plant capacity at either Collahuasi or QB. In addition, we could see meaningful cost savings from sharing other assets and infrastructure, including optimizing haulage, port utilization and support services. based primarily on the production uplift though, and before factoring in these other optimization initiatives, we expect that coordinated operations could deliver an average annual EBITDA uplift of $1.4 billion.
Beyond the operational benefits, integrating these 2 assets enhances our ability to plan and develop within the region. It strengthens our long-term mine planning improves environmental management and support better coordinated community engagement. We believe that the economic and industrial rationale for this combination is compelling, and we will continue to work collaboratively with the other owners of both assets to deliver the substantial value opportunity. A compelling aspect of this merger is the value that will be generated from a broader, more diverse project pipeline.
In pursuing these value opportunities, we will remain highly disciplined with our capital allocation. The greater flexibility offered by the combination will allow us to take a portfolio-wide view, allocating capital into the highest risk-adjusted returns. By prioritizing development where we see the greatest value creation potential we can maximize returns from the project pipeline. As we look forward, whether it's near-term production opportunities, brownfield expansion, adjacencies with neighboring assets or longer-term growth assets, we're focused on disciplined investment. We will also leverage our shared infrastructure, proven project development capabilities and joint technical expertise to reduce capital intensity across the portfolio.
That means a focus on lower upfront costs all without compromising safety or sustainability. We will continue to build on both companies' long-standing success in and commitment to global mineral exploration and discovery. Ultimately, this merger strengthens our ability to make smarter, more strategic decisions within a bigger opportunity set to grow margins and deliver value.
By integrating our organizations and leveraging our combined scale, we can realize meaningful value from procurement synergies by securing better terms, standardizing sourcing and cutting input costs across our operations. We can streamline overheads by reducing duplication across corporate functions, consolidating systems and aligning leadership structures to improve efficiency and decision making.
We also see clear opportunities in marketing and trading, a broader portfolio and stronger brand presence will improve positioning in key markets, enhance customer engagement and offerings and support more strategic sales and offtake agreements. When you put these 3 categories of opportunity together, the result is annual pretax recurring savings of $800 million. Strong cultural affinity and values alignment underpin our confidence in realizing these synergies with approximately 80% implementation expected by the end of the second year following completion. We should also be clear that a lot of work has been done between the 2 teams in order to define this path. These savings are not simply lose targets. They are identified, measurable, actionable and will be built into our integration plans. They will strengthen our cost base, improve our margins and support disciplined growth.
We're confident that this combination will deliver real and substantial value to our shareholders, and we will execute with focus and accountability. Underpinned by the high-quality asset base across the portfolios, the merger will enhance the financial and operational resilience of both organizations. The combined portfolio and balance sheets will benefit from a diversified cash flow base and increased financial flexibility, allowing for sustained investment through commodity cycles, funding high-returning projects and maintaining capital discipline.
The combined entity's balance sheet will start from a strong position, and we expect the underlying portfolio to generate stable and attractive cash flow even before factoring in any impact from stronger copper fundamentals. We expect the transaction to support an investment-grade credit rating, benefiting from focused scale, attractive diversification, significant synergies and capital discipline. Operationally, the integration of our teams and assets creates a more robust platform while also diversifying our production base. This positions us to navigate volatility with confidence, invest strategically and deliver sustainable value over the long term.
Finally, while the exact details of the shareholder returns policy will be developed in the period between now and closing, Anglo Teck will be committed to disciplined capital allocation that is balanced between cash returns to shareholders and investing in value-accretive growth. Both companies have a strong heritage. I'll say a few words on Canada's contribution to the merger, and Duncan will talk to the contribution from South Africa and the U.K. This merger will play an enhanced role in the Canadian mining ecosystem and will boost Canada's impact and influence on the global mining stage. We are establishing a new major global critical minerals champion and top 5 copper producer headquartered in Canada with meaningful representation in Canada at the executive and Board levels. Canada has long been the cornerstone of Teck's business with world-class assets and talented teams. It's a country with a strong mining heritage, a stable and constructive regulatory environment and a deep pool of mining expertise and talent. The creation of Anglo Teck, as a Canadian-based company will bring significant benefits with commitments to invest in new growth, innovation and the Canadian economy as well as exploring new opportunities to accelerate Canada towards realizing its natural resource advantage. We're committed to providing wide-ranging benefits to Canada, working with indigenous peoples and local communities supporting jobs and economic growth while maintaining the highest standards of safety, sustainability and transparency. And that commitment is reinforced by the clear and strong undertakings we are making today to generate net benefit for Canada. Canada is part of our identity and with our global headquarters probably based in this country, and that will continue long into the future.
I really couldn't agree more with what Jonathan has just said, Canada is one of the world's greatest mining jurisdictions with a deep history in industry -- in the industry and it makes enormous sense for Anglo Teck to have our head office here in Vancouver.
Looking at Anglo American's history, South Africa and the United Kingdom have played and will continue to play an integral role in our long story. South Africa is home to world-class assets, skilled workforce and deep mining expertise. Anglo Teck will continue to play its role in the fabric of South Africa as a strong, highly valued mining company. We will continue to play our societal role in the communities around our operations in terms of health, education and broader economic development, while also supporting the country's national priorities.
Kumba remains a major part of our global business, particularly with the significant investment that we are making in the UHDMS plant to make Kumba's products even more competitive. Our Johannesburg corporate office will continue to support Anglo Teck's global operational footprint and will also serve as the hub for growth and investment opportunities across Southern Africa. We remain fully committed to our operations, people, partnerships and communities across the country. And of course, our management team and Board will continue to include meaningful South African representation. The United Kingdom will also continue to play a key role within our corporate strategy with strong governance frameworks, access to global capital and a deep investor base that understands the mining sector, we are pleased to confirm that the combined company will maintain its U.K. incorporation and primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. Anglo Teck will also continue to progress the development of the Woodsmith project in Yorkshire with its ongoing potential to be a multigenerational asset in crop nutrients, subject to the 3 criteria around balance sheet, syndication and critical studies that we have previously outlined.
We're proud of our roots in Canada, South Africa and more recently, the U.K., and we're excited to continue building our future from these strong foundations.
Our respective companies are committed to shareholder and stakeholder value delivery through responsible mining. Both companies are building central sustainability and technical capabilities that underpin our respective track records on social and environmental stewardship, indigenous and community relations and responsible resource development. Together, Anglo Teck will continue to prioritize long-term value creation that focuses on safety and health as our first priority is inclusive and responsible and supports environmental protection. We're also focused on transparency and accountability. Together, we'll continue to invest in technologies and practices that improve our environmental footprint while maintaining the rigorous sustainability standards across our operations. This merger strengthens our ability to deliver on these priorities. We can scale best practices, share innovation and drive measurable impact across our combined portfolio. We're proud of the progress we've made individually and even more excited about what we can achieve together.
I would like to finish by saying how thrilled we are to be announcing this merger of equals that we believe unlocks and create substantial shareholder value. Together, we will become a leading critical mineral producer with a top 5 global copper portfolio, backed by premium iron ore and zinc assets and with outstanding margin-enhancing growth optionality in both the near and long term. By combining complementary portfolios and capturing real material synergies, we will deliver tangible value of $800 million per year with a road map to unlock an additional $1.4 billion of annual underlying EBITDA uplift at the QB and Collahuasi complex. And we will have the resilience and enhanced financial capacity to balance shareholder returns with valuable investment opportunities from this incredible suite of assets. This transaction strengthens our position in key markets and enhances our ability to respond to commodity cycles with greater agility and resilience. This further enhances and creates meaningful additional value for all our combined shareholders.
So thank you, and now we will be pleased to take your questions.
[Operator Instructions] And the first question will come from Matt Green with Goldman Sachs.
2. Question Answer
Jonathan, Duncan, congratulations to you both. I've got 1 question, but I guess, in 2 parts. Just on Collahuasi and QB. What is the proposed agreement with the JV partners that you need to present to unlock these synergies and sort of your discussions to date, has there been a willingness for them to proceed with this? And then just on the $1.4 billion target synergies, you suggest that, say, risk-adjusted, from from a technical, and I guess, operational perspective more so than an economic macroeconomic factors, where do you see the greatest risk to achieving this target? And are there any specific areas that you have presented I guess, particularly concern around in your estimates.
Thanks, Matt. Let me talk to the establishment of the JV So clearly, this is something that is fundamentally driven by the industrial logic of it. I think the market has been talking about this for a very long time. all of us have seen the potential that this offers for value creation. The key materiality of all of this is the combination of Collahuasi's high-grade ore body -- and then processing that through the -- what is today must be one of the state-of-the-art concentrators at QB. So with the infrastructure that's available, water, land, et cetera, this is a really, really compelling value proposition. And I think one that all the shareholders on that asset are desirous of, I mean, certainly, it has been spoken about by all of the shareholders in the last few years. So I'm sure that there's going to be a bit of work to do to agree terms and make it all happen. But just given the nature of this, I'm quite positive that we should be successful in getting that done.
And sorry, Duncan, if I could just follow up. Are you pressing for Anglo Teck operatorship of the complex? Is that what you're proposing to all the partners?
No, absolutely not. So I mean today, Collahuasi is operated as independent with an independent management team. It's very much going to be the same here. I think we will put -- we will put a structure around this where there's an independent management team, and then the shareholders will manage that through the Board of the combined entity.
The next question will come from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank.
The industrial logic of the transaction makes a lot of strategic sense. But my question for you, Jonathan, is why now from a Teck perspective. I mean it's been a very tough year for Teck, obviously, if we look at your share price, it's largely driven by the challenges we've had at QB. I guess why look at a transaction today, especially not just the challenges, but the operational review that you just announced a few weeks ago. Clearly, this opportunity or at least I would think this opportunity would still be here down the road. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the timing of this.
Orest, thank you for that question. Look, the transaction that we're announcing today is very consistent with our strategy. As you know, we've been working for many years on a path to portfolio simplification with a particular focus on copper. What this transaction offers our shareholders, of course, is a scaled and very high-quality premium copper-focused company with associated high-quality assets in premium iron ore and zinc. So the consistency with strategy is clear. We believe as well through this transaction, as Duncan has just been outlining, we can gain earlier access to QB and Collahuasi synergies than might otherwise be the case. And we do see these synergies as the most compelling industrial synergies available in the industry today.
With respect to QB, I think we spoke last week about the comprehensive operations review. And of course, the QB TMF challenges that we've been encountering. There is still work to be done there. We believe and continue to believe, and I think Duncan would say the same that the QB is very much a world-class asset. We will move through these challenges in the relatively short term. And there's no structural impediment here to value and ultimately, the creation of these synergies in the medium term.
So I think from an investor perspective, on the tech side, I mean, twofold. One, of course, is the access to this incredible and high-quality portfolio of assets that we're putting together here.
And secondly, it's access directly to both the synergies at QB and Collahuasi, but also the synergies of $800 million annually that we believe can be achieved through the combination of these 2 companies.
Okay. And just as a quick follow-up. Does your remaining buyback that you announced about $1 billion left, will that continue through the next year or so? Or is that on hold given the announcement of the transaction?
Orest, we'll place that on hold. We're very focused now, of course, on starting the new company, Anglo Teck with the very best balance sheet that we can. And therefore, we will continue, of course, with our normal distributions through our dividend, but we will suspend that buyback for the time being.
Next question will come from Alain Gabriel with Morgan Stanley.
It's again on the QB, Collahuasi tie-up. Can you talk through the path to lifting the output to $175 tons per annum, so the milestones and the permits that are needed along the journey? Or any capital investments other than the conveyor belt needed to get there? And what does it mean for your Stage 4 expansion at Collahuasi? That's my first question.
Thanks, Alain. Yes. So I guess just from top level, of course, what we'll have to do is is get together with the other shareholders. We'll have to do the detailed design of the combined operations, and then we will have to obviously come to an agreement with them. I suspect that, that could be done in relatively short order. Following that, we will have to then obviously apply for permits against the new design and then be able to start the construction.
So if you sort of roll that through, it's probably knocking on the door of the end of the decade. But actually, in terms of what happens to your question in terms of the capital really fundamentally what we probably need to do is repurpose some of the QB plant. So there's a bit of capital that goes into QB plants to accommodate the different type of ore. One construct here is you would run on stream on the high grade, the other stream on the QB. Alternatively, we would actually look at options of restarting Rosario up at Collahuasi bringing some of that all into the plant, too.
So there is plant CapEx that we've allowed for here. That's in the order of around about $700 million at about $1.2-odd billion is for the connection of the 2 mines under that construct, which will largely be in the form of conveyors. So that's it.
What does that mean for the Stage 4 expansion at Collahuasi?
Yes. So look, I mean, obviously, this is a much more higher value accretion than Stage 4. So if we're able to pull this off, you then indefinitely defer Stage 4. So that would be the outcome of this. That's very clear.
And my second question is on capital allocation. How should we think about the financial leverage versus dividends and buybacks on a go-forward basis? Do you think the combined entity would inherit Anglo American's on frameworks?
This will be a new company. So we will design the capital allocation frameworks to suit the new company. But I think they will be very consistent with the capital allocation framework that both companies have today. which is to ensure that we maintain a strong balance sheet. And then we are balancing the allocation of returns to new growth and high returning new growth. And of course, we'll have the opportunity to optimize that through a broader project portfolio. against ongoing capital returns to shareholders.
So I think we both have very strong track records of returning cash to shareholders. We will look to continue that through the new company. And of course, balance sheet strength is fundamental to what we're setting out to achieve here. This is going to be a quality company in terms of the assets. We also need this to be a quality company in terms of the balance sheet and the optionality that, that will give us.
Next question will come from Liam Fitzpatrick with Deutsche Bank.
Duncan and Jonathan, look, it's really coming down to the -- my question is on the value of the deal. I think we can all see the logic, but the surprise in the market is the lack of premium for the Teck. So -- perhaps firstly for Jonathan, if you could just comment on the QB issues and whether it's fair to infer that it's going to take quite a bit longer to get around these tailings and other issues than the current guidance that you have in the market? And then a question for Duncan is just around the level of diligence that you've done on the QB asset and the comfort that it can actually get to those designed capacity levels and even higher longer term.
Yes. Thanks, Liam. So just on the first point, we've structured this as an at-market merger of equals and you see that reflected beyond the ownership ratios into aspects, for example, the 50-50 appointment of directors to the Board from both tech and Anglo American. You see that from the sharing of management as well across the top of the company. We expect that to be the case throughout the senior management ranks -- with respect to QB, of course, we commented on that last week in terms of the action plan that we have in place there. We noted that the work we have to do on tailings will likely carry through into 2026 as we work to improve sand drainage times with will allow us to accelerate the construction of the San Dan. In the meantime, of course, we continue to build rock benches to assure that we can raise the heightened to crest, so we can continue to operate the mine and the plant.
We're very confident that we'll make our way through the challenges that we're having in the plant right now. But again, as discussed last week, it's going to take us a little bit longer than we previously identified. But it's important we take the time now to do that work really well to ensure that we preserve the value of what is a world-class asset. And of course, that enables the capturing of the synergies that Duncan has just been talking to.
So Liam, let me pick up on your question related to the diligence. Of course, you can imagine we've done extensive diligence on this particular matter. And that, of course, included a number of technical site visits. So we've had our technical experts, both tailings and process engage with the team at Quebrada Blanca. And on top of that, we've had a number of sessions with the independent professionals. -- engineers on record, et cetera, with at Quebrada Blanca. So as Jonathan sort of alluded to, and I am very confident that Quebrada Blanca is a great asset.
Now we have seen what Quebrada Blanca is going through before ourselves. We have experienced that in a similar sort of way. during the Quebec ramp-up. And I completely recognize the challenges that are being experienced here on the ground at QB. The reality is that these major operations do just sometimes take time, particularly in the early phases of setting up a tailings staff. The early years of building a tailings down are absolutely critical to the structural integrity and the safety and therefore, the longevity of that dam.
And therefore, it is important to go at the right pace and set things up the right way for the long term. Done right. then the benefits are there for decades to come. And as I say, at Quellaveco, we had a very similar problem. -- in the context of a very high department of fines to the sands fraction, which is what you use to build the tailings down wall until you get on top of that. your rate of production is limited.
Now the work that the team at QB are doing right now, the approach that they are taking to it is very similar to that, that we took to Quellaveco. So for sure, it will impact production in the first couple of years. but it's absolutely the right approach to take to deliver the very significant and inherent value of that asset.
So look, summary of all of that is I completely share Teck's excitement about the full potential of Quebrada Blanca and the opportunity that we have to take the combined Collahuasi-Quebrada Blanca assets to the next level.
Your next question next question will come from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.
Jonathan and Duncan, a couple of questions. So firstly, -- just a follow-up on Alain's questions a little bit on the tailings dam. Maybe talk about Duncan, Anglo's experience with an tailings dams and any of the experiences that you could bring to bear? I'm assuming that the tailings from Collahuasi will be deposited in QB. But is that not -- you're assuming that it will be fixed by the time you actually get these permits to get the transported over. Is that correct?
So look, we'll have -- the 2 operations are separated by quite some distance in elevation. So up at the Collahuasi mine, there is a plant, and there is a tailings down associated with that plant. Down at Quebrada Blanca, there is a plant and there's a tailings dam associated with that plant. So we are in the combined operations going to be running all of the plants and all of the tailings dams. So that means that the ore that is processed through the plant down at Quebrada Blanca will be the source of the material that is used to build the Quebrada Blanca tailings dam.
So it's how it works technically, and the rheology of those concentrates or tailings will determine the rate at the which goes. But we understand those very well. And by the time we get the it really does feel like the ramp-up will be done. So 2027 looks pretty solid.
Okay. Yes. I had assumed that the ore that gets processed through QB is going to be deposited in QB. So thanks for that clarification. I'm just wondering also, is there any time commitments in keeping the head office in Canada and the key management rules as they are, i.e., yourself as Deputy CEO and Duncan as CEO, are there any commitments that you've made or expect to make in order to get through this investment Canada review?
Anita, yes, there are. We, as you highlight, have committed to have the global headquarters for this company in Vancouver. We've also committed to have the majority of senior executive roles based here in Canada. And as you say, that includes the CEO, Deputy CEO and CFO, among other roles, those commitments are expected to remain in place in perpetuity.
Okay. And then -- just in terms of the index implications, have you spoken to anybody? Or do you have any expectation how the primary listing being in London will impact the S&P -- sorry, the TSX index listings. I mean I have some guidance on that from our guys internally. But I'm just wondering if you have any further color to add on that?
Look, the -- I think as we've said, the primary listing of the new company, Anglo Teck will be in London, and that's where the index inclusion will be. I mean, typically, it's unlikely to get index inclusion on other exchanges because that's usually connected to primary listing and domicile.
Okay. And then one final question, just on the the revenue EBITDA? I'm just I'm sure exactly if that includes the transport cost. When you're talking about $1.4 billion on a 100% basis, does that include transport costs or not because it's a revenue EBITDA and I'm not sure what that phrase means.
Yes. It means we're generating this from increased production rather than generating it from cost reduction, for example. So it's that 175,000 tonnes of additional production that we will get from processing the higher-grade softer Collahuasi ores that translate into those those revenue uplifts.
Yes. And I guess my question was, was that also netting off the transportation cost, though, as well.
You mean the movement of the ore from Collahuasi to Quebrada Blanca, the answer is yes.
Next question will come from Chris -- with Jefferies.
Congratulations on creating a structure where 1 plus 1 clearly equals more than 2. And I'm just wondering about different options that you might have had. And just really, first, curious as to how long you've been in discussions. And then whether you also thought about potentially selling your respective companies? I mean Duncan obviously you were in discussions with BHP last year. Jonathan, you've been in discussions with Glencore, you got a deal done on the coal side. You both have increasingly highly coveted assets trading at relatively low valuations. And again, again, this deal is better than doing nothing. But I would think if you ran an auction for the business, you could potentially get very high synergies. So wondering how that was included in the thought process around this. And again, how long have the discussions been going on? And what are the options you may consider?
Chris. Yes, look, so Fundamentally, what we do is always I speak for myself, but I'm sure this would be similar for Jonathan, too, but we always look at all of the options that we have. all of the time to ensure that we are creating the best value for our shareholders. And certainly, in terms of where we were and how we looked at at the option set presented to the company, this by far and away, was the most attractive outcome for us, and that's why we've moved down this path.
Just in the context of how long we've been doing this thing. Well, I mean, as I say, I have been a very big fan of trying to daylight value out of these adjacencies that exists, whether they are directly from the ore body or whether they are from the types of industrial synergies that we're talking about here, leverage of infrastructure, common use of plants. But generally, the idea of lowering the capital intensity of what is an extremely capital-intensive industry.
And so having done Serpentina and Minas Rio and being in a very advanced talks with Codelco -- and Los Bronces. This became a very obvious next driver for us. So I mean, it's probably fair to say that Jonathan and I have been speaking for quite some time around how we make the asset synergies work and whether that at all would be possible. Those have been sort of on and off conversations for the last year or so. But in the last few months, became increasingly clear to us that actually, there was an enormous amount of value in the combination of the 2 businesses per se in addition to the value that can be won from the asset synergies.
And so I suppose in all ones the last few months is where we've been working on putting this deal together.
Yes, that's right. And Chris, if I can just add from a tech perspective here. of course, myself and the Board, we always test any proposed transaction or proposed corporate action against the available alternatives. Of course, we start with our strategy, then we understand what options exist, consistent with that strategy to maximize value for our shareholders. And then part of that, of course, is the options we look at have to be capable of execution. As we said at the top of the call here, we think there are a range of reasons that this provides great value for both sets of shareholders, including this highly scaled and high-quality portfolio of assets that we're going to bring together and then the attractiveness we see for that in capital markets. And then both the $800 million of synergies, but also the $1.4 billion of EBITDA uplift at QB, Collahuasi, truly compelling and then to many extent, you need in terms of the value creation that we can deliver together.
And just secondly, quickly on regulatory review and approval. You said this has to get approved by China as well, right? And just wondering if there's a risk around -- back when Glencore bought Strata and MAVCOM tried to block that. And that was before copper was a critical mineral, the fact that copper has become so important to governments around the world, do you see any challenges in getting regulatory approvals to get this across the finish line.
Yes. Thanks, Chris. I mean we have to go through the normal course regulatory approval here, sort of antitrust and competition related. And to your point, yes, China will be one of those jurisdictions. It's impossible to speculate at this point in time. how that process will unfold. But ultimately, we expect to get this transaction over the line. It did start with the shareholder approval, which we'll want to get done by the end of this year. And then, of course, the big one in Canada is the Investment Canada Act and then it's the other approvals, as you've referenced across a range of jurisdictions. .
Next question will come from Dominic O'Kane with JPMorgan. .
A question for Duncan. So the completion action is contingent upon a number of things, including the Anglo American $4.5 billion special dividend. So arguably, the transaction carries some market risk, i.e., commodity price risk. Could you just maybe talk to us about whether you have additional funding arranged on the Anglo American side to help you navigate that special dividend? And is there any -- is there any link digital to that special dividend with the coal and disposal? .
Thanks, Tom. Look, we looked at this very carefully and stress tested quite materially what we expected to the markets to bring forward in the next couple of years. And as we did this, we had absolutely the opening balance sheet of the new organization in mind. And very clearly, what has changed in terms of what we were doing with the Anglo American portfolio on a stand-alone basis is the fact that this combination creates a materially new and strong balance sheet. The consequence of that is that we will be able to return to the Anglo American shareholders now, some of the proceeds from the ongoing portfolio transformation. And that is reasonably consistent with what Teck did with their shareholders when they did the EVR transaction.
In looking through all of this, we still have proceeds from the -- to come. We still have proceeds from steelmaking coal to come. And as you saw last week, we had some really, really good proceeds coming in from the Valterra AVO. So we -- in setting this all up, we're absolutely targeting a strong balance sheet with a solid investment grade rating. And on that basis, we came up with the dividend.
And particularly, there's no conditionality on the 4.5% with regards to star the proceeds from coal or to beers. They are mutually exclusive
Yes. There's no conditionality related to the sale of those assets.
Next question will come from Myles Allop with UBS.
Great. congratulations. So maybe firstly, just on that regulatory risk -- could you just confirm what discussions you've had so far with investment in Canada and how confident you are, we should be around the concessions that have been proposed being sufficient to that approval? That's the first question. .
Myles, thanks for that. We have had a number of engagements with key ministers in Canada and including the Minister responsible for the investments Canada Act to ensure that they understood what was coming. We put together what we think is a very compelling package here for Canada. Of course, the commitment to the Vancouver headquarters, the commitment to have senior executives based here in Canada is a very important component of that as is the $4.5 billion that we've outlined here to be invested over 5 years in Canada, which, of course, includes the already sanctioned Highland Valley Copper mine life extension. It includes the work we've been doing in the trail operations regarding strategic metals and a whole range of other commitments as well. We've extensively benchmarked these commitments. We understand what is required to get a transaction through Investment Canada well. We saw a sort of release from the government last night, just sort of noting the transaction and noting some of the things that will be important to them through this process. Those discussions lie ahead of us. But I think what we've outlined here are very consistent with what Canada will want to see and would expect for a transaction of this nature.
Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just for Duncan, obviously, the processes around De Beers met coal continue. Could you give us a quick update where we are with De Beers should we be hopeful that it will be some before the end of this year or or should we wait for the results of the next update and with -- how close are we to restart?
Okay, Myles. Let me start with De Beers. So progressing with the divestment process. Obviously, I said to you at the half that we were continuing to keep the demerger options alive. That remains true, but we are now through the first round of the divestment process. And we're into second round, which includes engagement with the government of Botswana -- so that's where we are moving pretty much as we had hoped that it might be at this particular stage.
And then as far as steelmaking coal is concerned, making pretty good progress with the restart of the longwall at Mamba. A few things that we need to do with regulators. There's been a number of stages for the approval to the restart 4 of those stages, a number of subsets to those stages. We are now at Stage 3F. Stage 4A is cutting coal for production. So we've come a very long way with the regulators, with the employees, with the unions. -- to get to the point where we are now. We know absolutely for sure that there is no damage at all to the ore body. There's no damage at all to any of the equipment. And so hopefully, still targeting a little bit later this year, maybe early next year for a full restart.
Maybe just for Jonathan as well around Zaldivar. Should we assume that there's going to be no approval until this Anglo merger is complete or if the tailings issue is fixed? Could we still see Zaldivar approved during the first half of next year?
Yes. Thanks, Miles. I think you mean Zafranal, which is our project in Peru. With bringing these 2 companies together, our intent would be to relook at the entire project stack here, we will have significant portfolio optionality in that regard. And then we will identify what are the very best projects to be progressed with an eye on maximizing shareholder value and returns. So we did say last week, we would not sanction projects -- new projects until such time as the QB tailings issues. -- were resolved. But I think we have to look at that again in the context of this combined company and what will be best for the shareholders.
Next question will come from Ian Russouw with Barclays. .
Just a follow-up on the Collahuasi, QB. You mentioned that the synergies you provided in the production uplift just looks at putting Collahuasi or through one of the QB lines. What prevents you from putting Collahuasi through both of those lines? Maybe if you can speak to water availability, I guess, material movement infrastructure. Just trying to get a sense of whether you're just being conservative and there is actually more upside over the medium term.
Yes. Look, we've clearly got to get into the detailed work, and we need to be able to do that with Collahuasi. So I think you would expect us to be thoughtful as to how you do that. I mean, ultimately, we don't think this is a water constraint issue at all. It will just be the rate at which you can sync the mine at Collahuasi for the grade of ore that optimizes the output. So as I said, quite a bit of work to still do at a level of detail, but reasonably confident, very confident of what we've described as a synergy value yes.
Okay. Great. And then maybe just on the sort of Zafranal question to you, Duncan, on Woodsmith. Does that does the same hold for that sort of relook at the portfolio or the combined portfolio? And could that potentially change the time line for Woodsmith?
Yes. Look, Ian, Woodsmith is still very much part of this portfolio strategically and all the conditions that I set for Woodsmith remain the conditions here. So absolutely, got to get to a feasibility study that we're very comfortable with the returns on relative to everything else that we've got in the portfolio, we've got to get syndication done and we have to be very, very well progressed through the transitions with a strong balance sheet to move forward.
Do you think that changes the timing on that? You said, I think, not before 27?
That's right, not before '27.
That's unchanged.
That's unchanged for now.
Your next question will come from Craig Hutchison with TD Cowen.
Just in terms of the approvals, I think that you said in your opening remarks, you had over 80% of a share approval. Is that correct? And what does that work out in terms of the overall vote that you guys have sort of depending on the deal?
Yes. So Craig, the 2 classes of tech shares A and B will vote separately, with a threshold of 66 2/3. So for the A shares, of course, that irrevocable commitment with respect to 80% of that essentially takes care of the vote of the As, and then we have to have the same vote for the Bs on a 66 and 2/3 basis.
Okay. Great. And then just getting back to the QBE coast, but the synergies there I know there's 2 different tax agreements. Is there any way at this point to kind of quantify what the after-tax synergies would be, assuming the 175,000 ton production.
We'll get to that, Craig, I mean you're right in that QB has a tax stability agreement through until 2037. Those things need to be factored here into the context of the cooperation and combination of the assets. But as Duncan has pointed out, that's the work that lies ahead of us. Now we've identified what we think is a very compelling investment case here through the combination of these sites and all of the detail, whether that's related to permitting or whether that's relating to tax stability is ahead of us.
We are out of time for further questions. I would now like to hand the call back over to Mr. Duncan Wanblad and Jonathan Price for any closing remarks. Please go ahead, gentlemen.
Thank you, Chuck. This is a monumental day, and I am incredibly excited about this combination and the future of Anglo Teck, which I'm absolutely certain is going to drive outstanding value creation for the benefit of both of our shareholders here. Jonathan?
Yes. Just to echo that sentiment from Duncan, this is a unique and compelling opportunity to drive real value, and I'm excited of what we can achieve together as Anglo Teck. Thank you.
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for your participation, and have a pleasant day.
Anglo American — Anglo American plc, Teck Resources Limited - M&A Call
Financial data from Anglo American
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 14,614 14,614 |
14%
14%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 6,511 6,511 |
6%
6%
45%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 8,103 8,103 |
22%
22%
55%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 1,754 1,754 |
6%
6%
12%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | 182 182 |
11%
11%
1%
|
|
| EBITDA | 5,342 5,342 |
32%
32%
37%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 1,789 1,789 |
6%
6%
12%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 3,553 3,553 |
50%
50%
24%
|
|
| Net Profit | -2,037 -2,037 |
36%
36%
-14%
|
|
In millions GBP.
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Company Profile
Anglo American Plc is a mining company, which engages in the exploration and mining of precious base metals and ferrous metals. The company operates through the following segments: Iron Ore, Manganese, and Corporate and Other. Its portfolio of mining businesses includes span bulk commodities, including iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal, base metals and minerals, copper, nickel, niobium and phosphates, and precious metals and minerals. The company was founded by Ernest Oppenheimer in 1917 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
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| Head office | United Kingdom |
| CEO | Mr. Wanblad |
| Employees | 26,400 |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Website | www.angloamerican.com |


