[miningmx.com] — ANGLO American is focusing the bulk of its exploration efforts on copper and nickel in South America and the Arctic, while any further growth in iron ore will come from joint ventures or acquisitions.
Anglo plans to maintain its exploration spending at about $100m next year, the same amount budgeted for this year, as it drills for new deposits in 12 countries, Stuart McCracken, head of exploration governance, told Reuters on Tuesday.
“Chile is still a very important place for us,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Mines & Money conference in London.
” There is still a chance of finding a porphyry (major multi-mineral deposit) in the Andes but to find a (high quality) iron ore deposit is almost impossible.”
Most top class iron ore deposits have already been discovered and mapped out, he added.
“If you go into the (Australian) Pilbara, if you go into West Africa, you’ll find those tenement maps very tight. To get access to that ground, you need do joint ventures, acquisitions.”
Anglo owns the world’s fourth biggest iron ore exporter, Kumba in South Africa and one of its major growth projects is the Minas Rio iron ore operation in Brazil.
Under a restructuring programme, Anglo has zeroed in on copper and nickel among base metals and sold its zinc operations to Vedanta earlier this year for $1.3 billion.
Anglo is prospecting for copper in Chile, the world’s biggest producer of that metal, and seeking nickel in Brazil and the Arctic.
“That northern region, the Arctic in Canada, North America through to Scandinavia is an important focus from a greenfields point of view. We recognise that area has very good potential for nickel,” McCracken said..
Anglo has modest operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has some of the world’s richest copper deposits, but it is still waiting for more stability before expanding there.
“The DRC is a difficult place to be, but we recognise both from a company point of view and from an exploration point of view, it’s a hugely important place to be for copper,” he said.
“We have quite strict ethical standards and it’s very difficult to actually do business in places like the DRC.” Last month, Anglo posted flat third quarter output of iron ore and a 9% fall in production of copper, the group’s two most profitable products.
In July, the group posted a doubling in half-year profits and reinstated its dividend on the back of a rebound in metals prices.
