Anglo American PLC

Infobox Company
name = Anglo American PLC

type = Public (LSE|AAL) (jse|ANGLO)
genre =
foundation = 1999
founder =
location_city = London
location_country = flagicon|UK England, UK
location =
locations =
area_served = South Africa (Core Market)
key_people = Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, (Chairman)
Cynthia Carroll (CEO)
industry = Mining
products = Ferrous metals, Platinum, Nonferrous metals, Coal, Gold, Base Metals, Industrial minerals
services =
revenue = $35.674 billion (2007)
operating_income = $10.116 billion (2007)
net_income = $7.304 billion (2007)
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees = 162,000 (2007)
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
slogan =
homepage = [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/ www.angloamerican.co.uk]
footnotes =
intl =

Anglo American PLC (lse|AAL, jse|ANGLO) is a world-wide group of companies, originally founded in South Africa as a mining enterprise but now extending into other areas. Natural resources remains the focus of its operations. Its headquarters are in London, UK with its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer founded the Anglo American Corporation, a gold mining company, in 1917. The AAC became the majority stakeholder in the De Beers company in 1926. Two years later, the AAC began mining in the Zambian copper belt. Anglo American merged with Minorco on May 24, 1999. [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/article/?afw_source_key=19ED07F3-C5AB-427C-BACE-6DABAC9037A7 History] Angola American PLC] Its gold mining operations were spun off into the separate AngloGold corporation, which later merged with the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation to form AngloGold Ashanti.

Operations

The Company focuses on natural resources. Subsidiaries include Tarmac (UK), Copebras (Brazil), Anglo Platinum Ltd (South Africa). It also holds 45% of the diamond mining company De Beers. [Anglo American (2007) [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/article/?afw_source_key=19ED07F3-C5AB-427C-BACE-6DABAC9037A7 "History"] , Corporate website [accessed 21 July 2007] ] The Mondi Group was spun out in 2007.

Criticism

In August 2007, the British charity, War on Want, published a report accusing Anglo American of profiting from the abuse of people in the developing countries in which the company operates. According to the charity, "in the Philippines and South Africa, local communities threatened with Anglo American mines have faced severe repression in their fight to stay on their land, while in Ghana and Mali, local communities see little of the huge profits being made by AngloGold Ashanti but suffer from fear and intimidation and from the damaging impact of its mines on their environment, health and livelihoods". [http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=14777 Anglo American: The Alternative Report] ]

Anglo American was also accused in 2007 of damaging environmental practices: in order to complete its planned Alaskan Pebble Mine in collaboration with Northern Dynasty Minerals, the global mining giant may build a massive dam at the headwaters of the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, which it would risk obliterating. [cite web
last = The Washington Post
title = Alaskans Weigh the Cost of Gold
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401915_pf.html
accessdate = 2007-12-27 ] Opponents are also pointing to the use of cyanide, heavy metals, and acid mine drainage which can all have potentially devastating effects on the pristine environment of the Bristol Bay area.

References

External links

* [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/ Anglo American plc website]
* [http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/02/congo11041.htm D.R. Congo: Gold Fuels Massive Human Rights Atrocities, Leading international corporations established links to warlords] , Human Rights Watch, 2 June 2005
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6186684678299366197 Mining, De Beers, Anglo American Documentary On Google]