Anglo American’s coal assets have been identified as “non-core” and will continue to be actively managed for further performance improvement, with a view to making appropriate divestment decisions over time.

All options for sale and divestment will continue to be evaluated and until any decision is made, all assets will continue to focus on safety, productivity and cost improvement performance and delivering value, Coal CEO Seamus French said.

Anglo American’s coal assets were “highly attractive and believed that they would continue to prosper under new ownership that is well positioned to allocate capital to continue to create value,” he said.

“In Australia and Canada we have some of the best metallurgical coal assets and operating teams in the world and the decision to divest over time in no way reflects the quality of the portfolio or the high performing teams who have continuously delivered and performed to world-class standards,” French said.

“We have already announced the intention to sell a number of the Australian assets including Callide, Dartbrook, Dawson, and Foxleigh - some of which already have conditional sales agreed.

“The remaining assets are now being evaluated for buyer interest. We will follow the usual sale process and it is our aim to sell the assets as going concerns to have minimal impact on our workforce.”

The combined Moranbah North, Grosvenor and Moranbah South operations constitute one of the most significant, high quality metallurgical coal businesses in the world with a combined resource base of over half a billion tonnes as at 2014.

The sale process is under way and is expected to take several months and early engagement with potential buyers has commenced.

Grasstree underground and Capcoal open cut mines in Middlemount, Queensland will continue to be managed to further improve performance and we will consider options for exit at the appropriate time.

Grasstree recently set a record for achieving 10 million tonnes per annum of production from its longwall.

Anglo American’s Peace River Coal operation in Canada was placed on care and maintenance in 2014 and continues to be managed by Anglo American while assessing the most appropriate options for value over time.

French said Anglo American’s New South Wales assets would be included in the divestment program. Alongside the conditional sale of Dartbrook to Australia Pacific Coal announced in December 2015, Drayton and Drayton South will be assessed for sale.

“The devastating PAC decision in late 2015 to recommend Drayton South not be approved means that continuity of operations between Drayton and Drayton South is not possible and that mining operations will cease at Drayton during 2016,” French said.