Anglo American has held talks with technology companies interested in taking equity stakes in the miner as a way to lock in supplies of the metals used in data centres, chief executive Duncan Wanblad told the Financial Times Metals and Mining Summit in London on Thursday. He said discussions were actively being had and described deep expressions of interest, while confirming that no stakes have been taken. The choice facing the tech companies, as he framed it, is between long term offtake contracts and an equity position in future supply.
The approaches land while Anglo waits for the final regulatory clearance on its merger with Teck Resources. The combined group would produce about 1.2 million tonnes of copper a year, roughly 5 percent of global supply, and at current prices the two companies carry a combined market value of just under 90 billion dollars, against 53 billion dollars when the merger of equals was announced in September 2025. Canada, the European Union, the United States, Japan, Chile and South Korea have approved the deal, and the parties still expect to close by March 2027.
China is the remaining gate. Reuters reported on October 2 that the State Administration for Market Regulation has asked Anglo to commit to a steady flow of copper concentrate to Chinese smelters, including volumes sold through traders, as a condition of clearance, with no asset sales under discussion. China refines up to 60 percent of the world’s copper cathode and faces an acute feedstock shortage, which gives its conditions weight well beyond a normal competition review.
Wanblad also addressed the other loose end of Anglo’s simplification programme, the planned 500 million dollar sale of its Brazilian nickel assets to China’s MMG. If the European Union does not approve that sale, he said, Anglo is likely to shut the nickel business, a position its Brazil chief reinforced at a closed hearing in Brussels last week. The nickel outcome and the Teck clearance are the last two pieces of a portfolio reset that also has Anglo seeking about 1 billion dollars for De Beers.