Santiago, Chile 06/04/2016 - Anglo American has no plans to sell its top copper mines including Los Bronces, Hennie Faul, head of Anglo's copper business, told FastMarkets in an interview.
Following a volatile year for miners, speculation at Cesco Week here in Chile continued to build that the company could sell its assets.
Earlier this year, analysts at SP Angel had speculated that Anglo American's top assets were a prime target for a take-over as mining majors look too acquire major assets.
But Faul dismissed the idea, stating that it would have to be a "really silly price" to sell because doing so would take the mining firm's focus away from copper.
The miner announced in January that it would consolidate into three business units from six and sell more of its assets, alongside reducing its workforce to 55,000 from 135,000. The assets the firm decided to stick with included copper.
"[If we sold] we would then need to decide to exit copper, which we haven't... we will maintain our position in Los Broncos - we had to restate that a few times as there has been lots of speculation," Faul said. "We no intention to sell and there are no offers I am aware of."
Anglo's Los Broncos mine is one of the largest copper mines in the world, making it an attractive proposition for those wanting to carve out new tier-one assets.
A tier-one asset is among the largest and highest quality producing mines and is characterised by economies of scale, expandable resource base and low production costs.
Still, El Soldado, which produced 36,000 tonnes of copper last year, remains for sale. But the company is not going to accept a "liquidated price" because that mine is now cash-neutral, it said.
Anglo American lost $5.62 billion in 2015 compared with a loss of $2.51 billion in the previous year amid a continued slump in commodities, forcing the company to look at it business structure and put assets up for sale.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)