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Anglo American PLC on Monday said it has hired an executive from a Norwegian oil company to lead its diamond business, De Beers, starting early next year.
Al Cook is executive vice president of exploration and production international for Equinor ASA, previous to which he led global strategy and business development. Before Equinor, Cook had a 20-year career at UK energy peer BP PLC.
As chief executive officer of De Beers, Cook will replace Bruce Cleaver, who will move to co-chair of De Beers Group, alongside Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad.
Cleaver ‘has successfully steered De Beers through a period of considerable change over the last six years, including leading the way through technology to provide consumers with absolute assurance of the ethical provenance of their diamonds,’ Wanblad said.
He added about Cook: ‘I believe Al's multi-disciplinary strategic skillset and strong personal conviction and values are ideally suited to the nature of De Beers, a global business that spans much of the spectrum from exploration and mining to Bond Street and Madison Avenue.’
Anglo American also noted Monday's announcement by South African subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore Ltd.
Kumba said its production will suffer due to strike action at South African state-owned railway company Transnet SOC Ltd.
Kumba said the strike action has forced Transnet, which transports iron ore for the company on its railways, to declare a force majeure.
Due to the disruption, the iron ore producer expects an output hit of around 50,000 tonnes per day for the first seven days, and 90,000 tonnes per day thereafter.
This comes after the United National Transport Union embarked on a strike action from last week Thursday having rejected Transnet's the wage offer. The industrial action is likely to cripple rail and port services.
Anglo American shares down 2.0% at 2,720.00 pence in London early Monday. They were down 1.5% at R 550.00 in Johannesburg. Kumba shares were down 3.3% at R 392.76.
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