Anglo American shares fell on Monday after the mining giant revealed it had suspended production at an Australian steelmaking coal mine.
The FTSE 100 firm, which also has a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, told investors that production at the Grosvenor mine in Queensland would be suspended after an ‘underground coal gas ignition incident’ on Saturday.
Anglo said the incident, which did not lead to any workforce injuries, has led to damage that is expected to take ‘several months’ to rectify.
Anglo said the Grosvenor mine in Queensland would be closed for ‘several months’
The Grosvenor mine is expected to have produced more than a quarter of Anglo’s forecasts of 8million tonnes of steelmaking coal production in the first half of 2024.
Anglo had expected to produce 15million to 17million tonnes of steelmaking coal of 2024 as a whole, of which Grosvenor was forecast to contribute around 3.5million tonnes.
The miner said it will provide an update to steelmaking coal production guidance ‘once more information is available’.
Anglo American shares were down 2.9 per cent to 2,428.5p in early trading, having added almost 25 per cent since the start of the year on the back of takeover speculation.
The Mail on Sunday, This is Money’s sister title, revealed last month that Anglo had kick-started plans to dramatically cut investment in Britain’s biggest mining development -the Woodsmith fertiliser project near Whitby.
As many as 80 per cent of the site’s 1,400 contractors could be affected in total
The upheaval at Woodsmith is part of a strategy put together last month by Anglo’s chief executive, Duncan Wanblad, to help fend off a £39billion takeover attempt by rival BHP.
Wanblad has also put Anglo’s coking coal business up for sale as part of his attempts to defeat the BHP bid.
The group could also list its £7billion platinum division on the UK stock market after seeing off a final £39billion BHP takeover offer.
