Anglo American Q4 Report: Copper Growth and Portfolio Shift

Anglo American ended 2025 with a resilient fourth-quarter performance, meeting production guidance across its continuing businesses.

The London-listed mining company reported robust output from its copper and premium iron ore divisions, despite broader market challenges and significant structural transitions.

Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo American, says: "We delivered another strong production quarter in our copper and premium iron ore businesses to end 2025, in line with our guidance.

"In the fourth quarter, we benefitted from higher copper grades and strong plant performance at Los Bronces, while Collahuasi reached its highest historical level of throughput, partly mitigating the impact from lower grade ore feed. In premium iron ore, both Kumba and Minas-Rio continue to perform strongly."

Copper output and the 2028 growth trajectory

While copper production reached 169,500 tonnes – a 14% year-on-year decrease due to lower grades at Quellaveco – the company says it is moving toward growth.

For 2026, the temporary restart of the second plant at Los Bronces will help mitigate short-term shortfalls at Collahuasi.

Duncan explains: "Looking ahead, we continue to focus on operational excellence and growth. For 2026, solid progress on mine development activities and strict cost control, coupled with the strong copper price environment, have allowed us to temporarily restart the second plant at Los Bronces.

"Copper production steps up from 2027, and our maiden 2028 guidance is expected to see our Chile operations produce over 125kt more copper than in 2025."

Diversified mineral performance across the group

The quarter saw varied results across the wider portfolio, with significant gains in manganese and iron ore offsetting planned maintenance shutdowns in the diamond sector.

• Copper: 169,500 tonnes (Benefitted from Los Bronces grades)

• Premium Iron Ore: 15.1 million tonnes (Up 6% via Kumba)

• Manganese Ore: 908,500 tonnes (Up 22% post-cyclone recovery)

• Nickel: 10,300 tonnes (Up 3% on higher recoveries)

• Rough Diamonds: 3.8 million carats (Down 35% on market-responsive shutdowns)

• Steelmaking Coal: 2.1 million tonnes (Down 15% following Jellinbah sale).

Becoming Anglo Teck: a defining milestone

2025 has been a year of significant transformation for the group. The company is currently progressing its "merger of equals" with Teck Resources, a move that will create a global critical minerals champion.

Duncan said: "2025 has been a year of significant transformation and a defining moment in Anglo American's long history. We were delighted to receive Investment Canada Act approval in December for our merger with Teck, following overwhelming support from both companies' shareholders – a major milestone in our journey towards becoming Anglo Teck.

"We continue to secure key regulatory approvals for the transaction and we are advancing our integration plans."

Financial challenges and portfolio simplification

Despite operational wins, the group faces challenges in its exiting businesses. De Beers' underlying EBITDA is expected to be negative for 2025, leading to an impairment review of its carrying value. Wanblad confirmed the commitment to divestment:

"We are committed to seeing our portfolio transformation through to its conclusion. The formal sale process for Steelmaking Coal is progressing well, and we continue to ramp-up Moranbah North ahead of transitioning to normal longwall operations.

"In nickel we continue to work through the regulatory process, and we are progressing the separation of De Beers."

About Anglo American

Anglo American is a leading global mining company focused on the responsible production of copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients.

Its website says they are "future-enabling products that are essential for decarbonising the global economy, improving living standards and food security".

It adds: "Our portfolio of world-class operations and outstanding resource endowments offers value-accretive growth potential across all three businesses, positioning us to deliver into structurally attractive major demand growth trends."

Anglo American adds that its integrated approach to sustainability and innovation drives its decision-making across the value chain, "from how we discover new resources to how we mine, process, move and market our products to our customers – safely, efficiently and responsibly".