Overview
Our base metals business is made up of copper, zinc, nickel and mineral sands operations and projects in South America, southern Africa and Ireland.
Inside Mantos Blancos, Chile
Anglo Base Metals has interests in 14 operations in six countries, producing copper, nickel, zinc, niobium, phosphate fertilisers, titanium dioxide and zircon, together with associated by-products including lead, molybdenum and silver.
South America
In Chile, its six copper operations comprise the wholly owned Los Bronces, El Soldado, Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines, the Chagres smelter and a 44% interest in the Collahuasi mine. The mines also produce associated by-products such as molybdenum and silver.
Other South American operations are the Loma de Níquel nickel mine in Venezuela, and the Codemin nickel and Catalão niobium mines in Brazil.
Anglo Base Metals also has a controlling interest in Copebrás, a leading Brazilian producer of phosphate fertilisers and phosphoric acid. Phosphate fertilisers are used to supplement natural soil nutrients to achieve high agricultural yields.
Southern Africa
In southern Africa, Black Mountain and Skorpion mines produce zinc and associated by-products such as lead, copper and silver. Anglo Base Metals’ sole European operation is the Lisheen zinc and lead mine in Ireland.
In January 2007, black economic empowerment company Exxaro Resources agreed to acquire Anglo Base Metals’ Namakwa mineral sands operation in South Africa, which produces titanium dioxide, zircon and rutile, together with associated by-products, along with 26% each of Black Mountain and Gamsberg, a large, moderate-grade zinc undeveloped deposit located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Black Mountain and Gamsberg will remain subsidiaries of, and continue to be managed and operated by, Anglo Base Metals. This sale was completed in October 2008.
Strategy
Anglo Base Metals’ strategy is to find or acquire, develop and operate long life, low cost mines in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, with a strong focus on efficient resource allocation, continuous improvement and capital and operating excellence. The business is constantly developing and evaluating growth options from a combination of sources, including greenfield and brownfield projects, acquisitions, exploration and technology development.
