Anglo American

Introduction

Anglo American Plc is a British multinational mining company based in London, with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE 100 Index. It also has a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, reflecting the company’s South African origins where it was formed in 1917. Anglo American is the 14th biggest mining company in the world, with a market capitalisation of over £40.41 billion in 2026.

It has 56 operations in 15 different countries, mainly in Southern Africa, South America and Australia. Anglo American has extensive copper and iron ore assets, and is a major producer of diamonds as the majority owner of the De Beers group. Anglo is the world’s third largest exporter of metallurgical (steelmaking) coal, and also owns nickel, manganese and polyhalite mines.

The company’s motto is “Re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives,” yet its operations do the exact opposite by reducing water availability in water-scarce regions, infringing on Indigenous people’s land rights and damaging ecosystems. This has resulted in much criticism and opposition from communities directly affected by its operations.

In 2025 a merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources was announced, with plans to form Anglo Teck that would represent the second biggest merger in the history of the mining industry. Anglo Teck is being marketed as a ‘global critical minerals champion’ and would become a top-five global copper producer with a copper exposure of more than 70%. The merger is expected to be completed in late 2026 or early 2027, pending regulatory approvals.

The merger followed a restructure implemented by Anglo American in 2024 to divest coal and diamond assets and demerge Anglo American Platinum, the world’s biggest platinum producer, which has now rebranded as Valterra Platinum. While Anglo have failed, as of July 2026, to sell their coal and diamond assets, the shift towards expanding copper and iron ore mining has been framed by the mining giant as playing “its role responsibly in forging a more sustainable world”.

The restructure and merger are a clear attempt at greenwashing, attempting to escape responsibility for a long legacy of colonial dispossession and fuelling the climate crisis while continuing to displace and pollute communities across the world. London Mining Network, alongside mining-affected communities and workers across the world, have a long history of holding Anglo American to account and we will continue to do so with Anglo Teck, demanding justice for historic harms and resisting new ones.

Below we provide a brief summary of the main struggles LMN are currently involved with.

Chile

Anglo American’s operations in Chile have seriously impacted water availability in a region which has been experiencing a megadrought for a decade. The Los Bronces Integrado project has contributed to the destruction of glaciers, thus impacting the most important water reserves for the life of the country and the region. Meanwhile, the El Soldado mine has greatly impeded the ability of the nearby El Melón community to access drinking water, being now dependent on truck tanks for their water supply as a consequence of Anglo American’s over-exploitation of the water basins.

Anglo American has been acquiring common lands in El Melón at cut prices and currently owns more than 1,000 hectares, while taking legal action against livestock farmers resisting them. Additionally, there are reports of arsenic contamination in the Colina River. Nonetheless, on all these accounts Anglo American refuses to take responsibility for how its operations affect water availability, even outright denying its impact on glaciers despite independent studies.

Quellaveco, Peru

Similar to its operations in Chile, Anglo American’s Quellaveco project in Peru consumes vast quantities of water in a region already dealing with water scarcity. Anglo American has diverted the Asana river, resulting in the loss of around 7km of aquatic habitat and irreversibly impacting the local ecosystem. Mining activities have caused metal contamination in the river sub-basins and in soils, affecting crop yields and ecosystems.

Anglo American has also failed to comply with agreements reached with communities in 2012, for example Agreement 11 to construct the Asana River dam to provide compensatory water access to the local community. Communities are demanding that Anglo comply with all agreements and construct the dam without delay.

This is particularly concerning as the company’s responses to questions about water usage show a lack of understanding of hydrological cycles and how the mine’s operations could affect ecosystems. Of particular concern is the diversion of the Asana river which could have long-term consequences as in the case of the diversion of the Arroyo Bruno in Colombia.

Minas Rio, Brazil

Anglo American’s operations in Minas Rio in Minas Gerais state have been criticised for being imposed on local communities and for water pollution caused by mining waste spills. Additionally, the project includes a large tailings dam which poses a high risk to communities living downstream – a fact of which they are even more painfully aware after the 2015 Samarco dam disaster and the 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster, both in the same state of Minas Gerais. A recent request to heighten the dam has further raised concerns about the risk to people living nearby.

Anglo American’s exploration plans in Amazonia are in danger of infringing on Indigenous People’s land rights, particularly as the Bolsonaro presidency reduced the protection of the Amazon and Indigenous rights. On multiple occasions when the company was asked if it was committed to respecting such rights, it only committed to seeking free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), but not to actually obtaining it before starting operations.

South Africa

Anglo American is a company born out of British colonialism in South Africa which, at the fall of apartheid, controlled over half the companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Yet after over a century of extraction the company is seeking to exit South Africa and wash its hands of liability, demerging Anglo American Platinum (which has been rebranded as Valterra Platinum), and planning sales of coal and diamond assets.

Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) are leading a coalition of South African civil society organisations to demand reparations and accountability for 100 years of extraction. In 2025, MACUA presented a petition to the South African parliament detailing Anglo American’s capital flight – with taxes and royalties paid by Anglo to the South African government declining 85% from 2021 to 2024 and the number of employees by 22%. The petition calls for remedies including a parliamentary inquiry, reparations, binding obligations to Free Prior and Informed Consent, mine closure and rehabilitation, and stronger oversight of corporate disinvestment and transnational mergers.

Colombia

For over two decades, Anglo American co-owned the Cerrejón mine along with Glencore and BHP, before selling its shares in 2022. The giant open-pit mine is located in La Guajira, northern Colombia, where it has displaced and continues to displace Indigenous Wayuu and African descent communities. Local communities have often been relocated and face multiple issues as a result, including loss of their livelihood. Meanwhile many of the alternative economic projects set up with Cerrejón funding have failed, leaving people without adequate incomes. The mining operations have also severely damaged the natural environment such that local people fear the land will never recover even after mining stops. This includes destruction of local watercourses which have exacerbated conflicts over water as local communities report not having enough water. Additionally, pollution and dust from the coal mine has caused the contamination of water supplies and the air.

Anglo American must not be allowed to simply sell on its responsibility for the damage already caused by the Cerrejón mine. This includes the consequences from the diversion of the Bruno river and the eviction of the Tabaco community in 2001 who are still waiting for redress.

Zambia

Kabwe, in Zambia, is one of the world’s most polluted towns, with some areas containing lead soil levels of over 3000 mg/kg (the US EPA limit is 400 mg/kg). The widespread lead pollution from historic mining activities is a colonial legacy which has afflicted the health of the Kabwe community for generations. Lead is a toxic metal with no safe level of exposure and no biological role in the human body, which can cause devastating lifelong consequences.

Anglo American played a key role in controlling the Kabwe lead mine from 1925 to 1974 and, despite evidence it was aware of widespread lead poisoning of local children and the environment while it was involved in managing and providing technical advice relating to mine operations, failed to remediate the impact. In 2021, there were still about five million tons of mine tailings on the site.

A historic class action lawsuit was filed in 2023 on behalf of 140,000 Zambian children and women of childbearing age facing health issues due to the company’s operation in Kabwe. The claimants are demanding compensation for lead poisoning, the clean up of lead contamination, and the cost of remediation of homes and future blood lead screening.

As with Colombia and South Africa, Anglo American refuses to engage with demands for accountability, pinning the blame on the state-owned operator that took over after it left the mine in 1974.