Mark Cutifani stepped down as the chief executive officer of Anglo American last month a happy man, having saved one of the world’s biggest mining companies from almost certain destruction.did more than rescue debt-ridden, accident-prone Anglo. The shakeup helped to position the company for a low-carbon future.
In 2016, Anglo’s market value fell below £3-billion and there were rumours that the affable Australian might ride the coal chute into early retirement. By the time he finished his nine-year term as boss, the company was worth more than £50-billion and had been praised as a market outperformer, one with compelling shareholder returns.
He and other mining bosses realized that the strategy, if done with sensitivity, could produce heavenly results. “If you can do a good job in your local communities, invariably, the regional and federal government players will be supportive because, in the end, all politics is local,” Mr. Cutifani says.
in the doghouse. In the years before Mr. Cutifani took charge, Anglo had alienated investors through massive cost overruns, uninspiring leadership, antiquated technology and a series ofThe existential threat to Anglo gave Mr. Cutifani the excuse he needed to overhaul the company in a hurry. Underperforming mines were shown no mercy and were closed or sold. Of the 68 mines he inherited in 2013, only 37 are left.
Mr. Cutifani later worked in Canada at the nickel operations of Inco from 2003 and 2007, then moved to South Africa to become CEO of AngloGold Ashanti. Mr. Cutifani pushed hard elsewhere on the decarbonization front. The company vowed to achieve carbon-neutrality in its operations by 2040 and set a goal of cutting its Scope 3 emissions by 50 per cent by then as well. Mining companies’ Scope 3 reductions are exceedingly difficult to achieve because they cover the indirect emissions from their value chains, notably the use of the commodities processed by their customers.
ESG is a scam