public limited company traded as lse aal jse agl industry metals and mining founded 1917 johannesburg anglo american corporation 1999 london anglo american plc headquarters london united kingdom johannesburg south africa area served worldwide key people sir john parker chairman of the board mark cutifani ceo 1 products copper diamonds iron ore metallurgical coal nickel platinum and thermal coal revenue us 20.455 billion 2015 2 operating income us 2.038 billion 2015 2 net income us 5.842 billion 2015 2 total assets us 52.01 billion 2016 3 number of employees approximately 135 000 december 2015 4 subsidiaries de beers website www.angloamerican.com anglo american plc is a multinational mining company based in johannesburg south africa and london united kingdom . it is the world s largest producer of platinum with around 40 % of world output as well as being a major producer of diamonds copper nickel iron ore and metallurgical and thermal coal . 5 6 the company has operations in africa asia australasia europe north america and south america . 7 anglo american has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . the company has a secondary listing on the johannesburg stock exchange . 6 in december 2015 the company announced that after a us 3 billion loss in the first half of 2015 it would be undergoing a restructure including the loss of 85 000 jobs out of 135 000 . contents 1 history 1.1 1917 to 1990 1.2 1990 to 2010 1.3 2010 to present 2 operations 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit 1917 to 1990 edit sir ernest oppenheimer along with the american bank j.p. morgan & co. founded the anglo american corporation . a gold mining company in 1917 with 1 million raised from uk and us sources and ultimately derived the name of the company . 8 the aac became the majority stakeholder in the de beers company in 1926 a company formerly controlled by alfred beit a fellow jewish german emigre of the oppenheimers . 9 during 1945 the aac moved into the coal industry by acquiring coal estates . twelve years later sir ernest died in johannesburg and the company was succeeded by his son harry oppenheimer who also became chairman of de beers . in the late 1940s and 1950s the aac focused on the development of the free state goldfields seven major mines simultaneously and the vaal reefs mine . the success of the mines enabled the company to become the world s largest gold mining group . 10 in 1961 the aac expanded outside of southern africa for the first time and became a major investor in the hudson bay mining and smelting company in canada . in 1967 the company moved into the steel industry by acquiring scaw metals . from 1967 to 1975 it continued to grow and established a number of ventures including the mondi group timber pulp and paper amgold later anglogold ashanti and then amcoal through the consolidation of several of its mining operations in south africa and later known as anglo coal and in 2010 changed to anglo thermal . in 1982 harry oppenheimer retired as chairman of the aac and was succeeded by gavin relly . two years later oppenheimer retired from de beers and passed the chairmanship to julian ogilvie thompson 11 who in 1990 also became chairman and chief executive of the aac . 12 1990 to 2010 edit sculptures outside anglo american offices in london anglo american corporation merged with minorco on may 24 1999 to form anglo american plc with its primary listing on the london stock exchange and a secondary listing on the johannesburg stock exchange . 13 its gold mining operations were spun off into the separate anglogold corporation which in 2004 merged with the ashanti goldfields corporation to form anglogold ashanti . anglo american reduced its stake in anglogold ashanti to 16.6 percent in 2008 . 14 in 2000 julian ogilvie thompson retired as chief executive of anglo american and was succeeded by tony trahar . ogilvie thompson also retired as chairman in 2002 and was replaced by sir mark moody stuart . in the same year anglo american acquired tarmac a supplier of building materials 15 and shell petroleum company s australian coal assets 16 in 2001 de beers was privatised after being a listed company for more than 70 years . 17 in 2002 south africa s mining charter was approved 18 and anglo american and other mining companies with operations in the country were mandated to transfer a percentage of their south african production to historically disadvantaged south africans . 19 from 2002 to july 2008 anglo american carried out black community economic empowerment transactions across all businesses with operations in south africa totalling r26 billion . 20 also in 2002 anglo base metals acquired the disputada copper operations in chile from exxon mobil corporation 21 and opened a representative office in beijing china . 22 in 2003 anglo american acquired a major stake in iron ore producer kumba resources . 23 in 2007 cynthia carroll succeeded tony trahar becoming the first non south african and first female chief executive of anglo american . 24 the mondi group a paper and packaging business was also spun out in 2007 . 25 during the next two years anglo american opened a representative office in new delhi india 26 acquired control of the michiquillay copper project in northern peru and the mmx minas rio and amapa iron ore projects in brazil 27 and later acquired stakes in the pebble copper project in alaska . 28 anglo american was also accused in 2007 of damaging environmental practices in order to complete its planned alaskan pebble mine in collaboration with northern dynasty minerals the global mining giant may build a massive dam at the headwaters of the world s largest sockeye salmon fishery which it would risk obliterating . 29 opponents are also pointing to the use of cyanide heavy metals and acid mine drainage which can all have potentially devastating effects on the pristine environment of the bristol bay area . opponents of the pebble mine created ballot measure 4 to impose additional water quality standards on new large scale mines in the state . however in august 2007 alaskans voted against the initiative . 30 the pebble limited partnership has not yet put forward a project proposal and is working to prepare a prefeasibility study for the project in the second half of 2009 . 31 the mine proposal must still undergo environmental studies and the permitting process including being subject to state and federal water protections . 32 in december 2013 anglo american withdrew from the pebble limited partnership . 33 2010 to present edit anglo american entered into talks in early november 2011 concluding on the 4th . the oppenheimer family divested their remaining shares of de beers whereby anglo american acquired an additional 40 % stake for 5.1 billion which increased anglo american stake to 85 % . this came at a time of increased labour strikes and international attention to oppenheimer s involvement in blood and conflict diamonds . 34 35 anglo american plc. sold a 24.5 percent share in its chilean copper unit for 5.39 billion to japan s mitsubishi corporation paid with a promissory note which is due on 10 november 2011 . with this deal the anglo american sur complex was valued at 22 billion . 36 in november 2012 anglo completed the sale of steel maker scaw south africa ltd unit and its connected companies for a total of 3.4 billion rand in cash . 37 in july 2014 anglo american said it was disposing of its 50 % shareholding in lafarge tarmac a building materials joint venture to cement maker lafarge sa for a value of not less than 885 million 1.5 billion . 38 the sale of anglo american s 50 % stake in lafarge was subsequently completed in july 2015 for 1.6 billion . 39 in october 2014 anglo american s minas rio iron ore project in brazil began operating and shipping ore . 40 in july 2015 the company announced they would cut 53 000 jobs 35 % of their employees and that in the first half of 2015 they had a financial loss of us 3 billion . 41 in early december 2015 anglo announced that as part of a company restructure they would be cutting 85 000 mining jobs worldwide nearly two thirds of its current work force of 135 000 . 4 three businesses will be created by the merger of six divisions . the company has its dawson foxleigh and callide coal mines in central queensland for sale . dartbrook coal mine in the hunter valley in new south wales is also for sale . investors stock dividends were suspended . anglo shares then dropped to a record low on the london stock exchange after falling more than 12 per cent . 42 operations edit the company focuses on natural resources with six core businesses kumba iron ore ; iron ore brazil ; coal thermal and metallurgical ; base metals copper nickel niobium phosphates ; platinum ; diamonds through de beers in which it owns an 85 % share . 43 44 the paper and packaging business mondi group was spun out in 2007 . 45 anglo american entered into talks in november 2011 with the oppenheimer family to divest the remaining oppenheimer share of de beers an additional 40 % stake for 5.1 billion which would increase anglo american stake to 85 % . this came at a time of increased labour strikes and international attention to oppenheimer s involvement in blood and conflict diamonds . 46 in 2008 the company had 105 000 permanent employees and 39 000 contract employees in its managed operations located in 45 countries . 47 anglo american s biggest project in recent times was the minas rio iron ore project in brazil ; it faced delays and high costs but in december 2010 anglo american gained a key license from the government that would allow work to start . 48 49 production is initially expected to be 26.5 mt y ; iron ore would be sent through a 525 km slurry pipeline to the port of a u 50 as of october 2014 minas rio is operational and shipping ore . 40 in 2008 anglo american excluding de beers spent 212 million on exploring 21 countries for resources including copper nickel niobium phosphates and zinc . 51 the two main types of exploration for the company are greenfield and brownfield with nearly 70 % devoted to greenfield projects . 52 anglo american along with de beers backed the manufacturing of a superconducting quantum interference device squid to help improve the sensitivity of exploration surveys . 53 anglo american established boart products south africa limited in 1936 later named boart international to turn the company s stockpile of boart or low grade natural diamonds into drilling products . 54 this initiative resulted in the development of the first mechanically set diamond drill bit and later led to additional research into cutting and abrasive tools . 55 with a significant number of operations and employees in south africa anglo american faces the hiv aids challenge on a large scale . 56 in response it runs a workplace program for hiv aids testing and counselling . 57 in 2002 it started to provide antiretroviral drugs for employees with aids . 58 see also edit companies portal list of mining companies mineral policy institute extractive industries transparency initiative international council on mining and metals united nations global compact references edit anglo american appoints mark cutifani as chief executive . retrieved 18 july 2013 . permanent dead link a b c annual report 2015 pdf . anglo american plc. retrieved 19 march 2016 . name . the world s biggest public companies list