the Highveld Process for co-producing steel and vanadium from the same ore.
An office was opened in 1973 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, making the first move into South America. New business interests were to lead to gold, nickel, niobium and phosphates, and iron ore operations across Brazil.
In collaboration with others, Anglo developed the Richards Bay Coal Terminal in 1975, which became the world’ s largest dedicated coal export terminal. This combined with the building of a dedicated rail link from the Witbank coalfield to the port, boosted South Africa’ s global capacity, positioning the country as a leader in the export of thermal coal.
Successful joint ventures in South America saw the group expanding into Chile in 1980 through Empresa Minera Mantos Blancos. These ground breaking new relationships opened up a new world of opportunity in copper.
Always a leader in trying to improve the lives of black South Africans, in 1985, Anglo became the first major mining company in South Africa to recognise black trade unions, establishing the groundwork for better communication, understanding and transformation across all levels of the industry.
In 1992, in partnership with Mintek, the unique DC plasma arc smelting technology was developed to produce high-grade titanium slag from ilmenite produced at Anglo’ s Namakwa Sands heavy minerals operation. Namakwa Sands formed part of the asset base for the significant BEE transaction which saw the formation of Exxaro Resources.
The first coal assets in South America were secured at Cerrejón in Colombia in 1997. That year also, Anglo, spreading on both sides of the Atlantic, began construction on a nickel mine in Venezuela and a zinc / lead mine in Ireland.
In 1998 a truly integrated enterprise joined all the separately listed gold producers in which Anglo held interests into one free-standing independent company – AngloGold( later, AngloGold Ashanti) – the world’ s biggest gold producer at the time.
In 1999 Anglo American South Africa was combined with Minorco to form Anglo American plc, with its primary listing in London.
The following year Anglo started to develop a coal business in Australia, by acquiring four underground and three opencut coal mines including: Callide, Capcoal, Moranbah North, Drayton and Dartbrook.
The year 2001, after 113 years as a listed company, De Beers became a private company with three shareholders: Anglo( 45 %), the Oppenheimer family( 40 %) and the Government of the Republic of Botswana( 15 %).
In 2001 the group aligned with international mining sustainability practices, becoming one of the founding signatories to the International Council on Mining & Metals’ 10 Principles for Mining and Sustainable Development. The next year Anglo helped promote public awareness of gas, oil and mineral resource management, as a founding partner to the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative.
In 2002 Exxon’ s copper assets in Chile were acquired, including the world-class Los Bronces mine.
A stake in Kumba Resources was acquired in 2003, building group iron ore capability. In 2006, the company was restructured to become Kumba Iron Ore, South Africa’ s iron ore champion, in which Anglo American holds a majority share.
Anglo has contributed to all sectors in the technology of mining. Today its FutureSmart Mining™“ applies cutting-edge technological advances and broad innovative thinking to address mining’ s major challenges. Through collaborative partnerships, we are connecting people to find safer, more efficient and more sustainable ways to mine.”
In 2003 an important contribution was made to exploration with SQUID. Harry Calver, who retired as Technical Consultant to Anglo American in December 2011, said it is“ a very special technology, again, without a doubt the best in the world. Our airborne electromagnetic technology which has the greatest depth penetration into the earth ' s surface with the Spectrem aircraft, has recently been enhanced using SQUID technology which is a very advanced semiconductor, and it ' s recognised again as being a world leader."
In 2004, Anglo and its joint venture partners completed a major expansion of the Collahuasi copper mine in Chile, creating long-term annual capacity of some 500,000 t of copper.
Investment in the development of the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil began in 2006; a major engineering feat to construct a mine, plant and a 525 km pipeline to transport the ore to a new port facility.
In collaboration with its communities, the Mpumalanga municipality, the Department of Water Affairs, and fellow miner BHP Billiton, the tap at the eMalahleni Water Treatment Plant, a project that converts mine water into clean, safe drinking water, was turned on in 2007.
2008: diamond expansion continued as De Beers opened its first two mines outside southern Africa – Snap Lake in Canada’ s Northwest Territories and Victor in northern Ontario.
The end of a golden era came in 2009. After steadily reducing its stake in AngloGold Ashanti over the previous decade, Anglo sold its remaining shares, closing its involvement in gold.
The Barro Alto and Los Bronces expansion projects in Brazil and Chile, respectively were commissioned in 2011. Barro Alto is designed to produce an average of 36,000 t / y of nickel over more than 25 years, while Los Bronces is expanded to produce 400,000 t / y of copper.
Last year, Anglo commissioned the greenfield Grosvenor longwall coal project – ahead of time and within budget – as part of its major strategy to triple metallurgical coal production from Australian assets by 2020. The operation is expected to produce 5 Mt / y over 26 years.
There is insufficient space here to cover all Anglo’ s achievements and its many social initiatives that have massively improved the lives of all South Africans, whatever their colour. Many more milestones can be found at http:// 100. angloamerican. com /#!/
Mark Cutifani, current CEO:“ I read one of the original quotes from Ernest Oppenheimer, which was about the role of mining companies doing good things in society, and for me that captured it. Reading those thoughts, of the person who established the business, and then seeing how that thread had run through the organisation for so many years was so interesting to me. Seeing our values play out – the way the company interfaces with people across all areas, is unique and something that everyone at Anglo American should be proud of. I know I feel very proud when I see those values exhibited wherever I go throughout the business."
John Chadwick Founder john @ im-mining. com
4 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2017