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Anglo American has looked for fertiliser partners for months, states CEO

Anglo American has been looking for partners for its fertiliser project in North Yorkshire for around six months, President Duncan Wanblad informed , restating business will be among three pillars of the revamped miner, even as work there stalls.

The London-listed miner described an extreme plan on Tuesday to diminish by divesting less lucrative coal, nickel, diamond and platinum companies, as it transfers to ward off BHP Group's. $ 43 billion takeover offer.

As part of the plan, Anglo stated it would slow the. development of its Woodsmith fertiliser task in northeast. England, pressing back first production from 2027.

We have actually been in the marketplace searching for partners for the. lion's share of 6 months now and we have to stall to get the. partners to the point where they are prepared to invest,. Wanblad stated in an interview with on Thursday.

Woodsmith, on which the miner announced a $1.7 billion. writedown a year back, has the world's biggest known deposit of. polyhalite, a naturally-occurring mineral consisting of nutrients. including potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur, which it is. marketing as POLY4.

A feasibility research study for the project is only anticipated to be. all set by the start of 2025. This would have been followed by. a board full notice to proceed in the very first half of the year if. the wider assets restructuring had not got in the way.

( When) we're delevered materially compared to where we are. now, we're going to be in a much more powerful position to move this. forward and that's the strategy, Wanblad said.

The company's net debt swelled to $10.6 billion by the end. of 2023, from $6.9 billion a year previously.

Experts approximated total costs on Woodsmith at around $9. billion.

Wanblad likewise said a strategy to spin off the business's platinum. system in South Africa, sell or demerge the diamonds and. coking coal organizations wasn't hurried by the takeover danger from. BHP.

Anglo last week declined a second proposal from the world's. No. 1 miner.

I began a functional restructure in 2015 ... in May,. it was finished in December, Wanblad told .

In February, Anglo announced a property evaluation having earlier. outlined plans to carry out deeper expense cuts to protect cash.

None of this is an action that we have actually caught up or. created up in the last 10 days, Wanblad added.

You can see the clarity of the thinking and the depth of. the believing that's entered into this, it's not days' worth of. work, it's numerous months' worth of work.

(source: Reuters)