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The UK-based company said it intended to reduce its 2009 capital expenditure to $US4.5 billion, a cut of more than 50% on 2008 levels.
This capex includes $1.3 billion of stay-in-business spending, lower than 2008’s levels, the company said today when it announced its business-wide spending review.
The massive scale-back in capex will be achieved through rescheduling the company’s development projects for 2009 – meaning no new projects will go ahead unless these development projects are at an advanced stage and expected to perform strongly in the near term.
In coal, Anglo said it was anticipating further reduced demand from steelmakers and it had curtailed plans to grow its metallurgical coal production rates by 10%.
The miner also warned should steel demand fall further, it would respond with “further adjustments” to its metallurgical coal production rates.
Total coal production will be below 2008 levels, and capital expenditure on coal will be reduced to just $400 million.
The major, which has coal mines in Australia, South America and South Africa, did not indicate which, if any, coal projects in Australia might be facing reducing spend.
Despite the doom and gloom, the company said it still believed the outlook in the medium to long term was positive for its core commodities – however, its 2010 spending is also under review.
