By: Business day

Anglo American’s proposed $60 billion merger with Canada’s Teck Resources could mark the final phase of the company’s historic retreat from South Africa, leaving it with only one remaining South African asset—Kumba Iron Ore—which analysts expect will eventually also be sold. This follows a decades-long decline from its peak as South Africa’s corporate giant, founded in 1917 and once representing 43% of the JSE’s market cap, to a globally focused miner with a minimal domestic footprint.

The merger, described as creating a copper-focused entity named Anglo-Teck, is seen less as a merger of equals and more as a takeover favoring Canadian interests. While the new company plans C$4.5 billion in Canadian investments, commitments to South Africa—where Anglo retains substantial operations in diamonds, manganese, and iron ore—remain comparatively modest. Critics argue that the deal prioritizes executive incentives and Canadian economic benefits over the resource interests of Global South nations, including South Africa, Chile, Peru, and Brazil.

The author argues that South Africa missed earlier opportunities—such as BHP’s 2024 takeover bid—to demerge Anglo’s local assets into a state-led national mining champion. With the Public Investment Corporation and Industrial Development Corporation holding significant stakes in Anglo and Kumba, there is a case for creating a domestically controlled mining entity that includes community and worker ownership, rather than allowing the country’s natural resources to be managed from abroad.