Anglo American's (AAL) chief executive Mark Cutifani believes that the group's diversified product mix offers "a degree of insulation" against the ongoing price slump for bulk commodities. But the group was still forced to book a post-tax $3.9bn (£2.5bn) fair value write-down on its iron ore and coal assets. That was at the high-end of analyst estimates, with the bulk of the charge linked to the Minas Rio iron ore project in Brazil. Anglo did deliver on operational improvements for a number of its priority projects, but underlying cash profits for 2014 were down 18 per cent to $7.8bn.
Minas Rio has been a thorn in the side for Anglo American. Delays and cost overruns have blighted the project and led to the institutional pressure which ultimately forced the departure of Anglo's previous chief executive Cynthia Carroll. On the plus side, Anglo did bring Minas Rio into production below the revised budget estimate and completed the initial shipment from the project in late October.