Anglo American offer concession to Sheikh of Dubai over $5.6B Hunter coal mine

Anglo American's international coal CEO Seamus French has offered the Baird government a binding agreement to never extend its open cut coal mine beyond the proposed $5.6 billion Drayton South project, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The diversified miner, which has a market capitalisation of $17.9 billion, has also committed to forfeit those parts of its Hunter Valley exploration licence that cover Coolmore, the world's biggest thoroughbred breeding business, and Darley, which bred champion horse Lonhro and is owned by billionaire Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Sheikh of Dubai.

Anglo American says coal divestment will starve finance for green energy

Coal divestment strategies like the one announced by Norway's sovereign wealth fund will harm efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by denying funding for emissions abatement technologies, according to London-based miner Anglo American, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Anglo American said it recognised the challenges posed by the science of climate change, but stressed that the responsible approach was to proactively seek solutions.

Anglo mines coking coal and thermal coal across New South Wales and Queensland and also has coal assets in South Africa, Colombia and Canada.

Fitch downgrades outlook on BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto on iron ore price

Rating agency Fitch downgraded its outlook on BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto from stable to negative, after revising down its price assumptions for iron ore, copper and nickel earlier this month, according to the Australian Financial Review.

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining firm, held its A+ rating but Fitch said on Wednesday the spin-off last month of some of its assets into a new company named South32 would have a marginally negative effect on its credit rating in the near term, weighing on projected free cashflow generation.