Shares in Anglo American rose on Thursday after a second-quarter diamond production surge provided a brief reprieve for the struggling De Beers.
But any meaningful share price gains were capped by a warning that the production rally will be short-lived. Planned maintenance is expected to bring diamond output back down in the second half of 2026.
Shares in the mining giant closed 5.58% stronger, bringing its gain so far this year to almost 20%.
The update comes as Anglo has struggled to find a suitable buyer for De Beers, throwing a spanner in the works of its copper-centred portfolio transformation and looming merger with Teck Resources.
The growing popularity of synthetic diamonds, due largely to their lower price tags, has seen natural stones plunge in value over the past decade, shaving more than $10bn off De Beers’ estimated value since 2011.
Earlier this month, De Beers halted production at its only South African mine to cut costs, putting more than 1,000 jobs on the line.
Anglo’s diamond output was up 88% quarter on quarter in the three months to end-June. The group said it hit higher grades in its Jwaneng mine in Botswana and Gahcho Kue in Canada, while the Orapa mine in Botswana came back from an extended maintenance shutdown.
Outside of De Beers, Anglo has kept its production guidance unchanged for 2026, after delivering another strong performance across both copper and premium iron ore in the quarter ended June.
CEO Duncan Wanblad said on Thursday that in its copper business, Collahuasi (Chile) and Quellaveco (Peru) increased production from the first quarter, while the restart of the second plant at Los Bronces (Chile) continues to provide incremental profitable production.
In its premium iron ore division, Kumba and Minas-Rio (Brazil) maintained stable operational performances.
Wanblad said the conflict in the Middle East continues to cause global market volatility and the group is beginning to see some inflationary pressures primarily through higher fuel and other mining consumables.
“Our supply chain is actively managing these input costs, and we have benefited from strong by-product credits in copper in the first half of the year,” he said.
This and strong cost control have driven a reduction in Anglo’s unit cost guidance for Copper Chile to about 210c/lb (previously 230c/lb) and Copper Peru to about 65c/lb (previously 100c/lb).
Copper production was flat at 173,200 tonnes, primarily due to higher throughput at Los Bronces, offset by processing lower-grade stockpile ore at Collahuasi and the anticipated lower grades at Quellaveco.
Premium iron ore production decreased by 3% to 15.4-million tonnes (Mt) due to planned plant maintenance at Kumba and the impact of lower ore grade and mass recovery at Minas-Rio.
Manganese ore production increased by 22% to 908,300 tonnes, reflecting higher operating levels after the impact of a tropical cyclone in Australia which affected the comparative period.
Rough diamond production increased by 88% to 7.8-million carats, driven by extended maintenance at Orapa (Botswana) which affected the comparative quarter and planned higher-grade ore at both Jwaneng (Botswana) and Gahcho Kue (Canada).
Steelmaking coal production was flat at 2Mt, and nickel production decreased by 4%, reflecting maintenance at Barro Alto and Codemin, both in Brazil.
The group’s portfolio optimisation strategy gained further momentum during the quarter. In May Anglo announced an agreement to sell its steelmaking coal business in Australia to Dhilmar for up to almost $3.9bn in cash, with completion expected by the first quarter of 2027.
“We are also progressing the sale process for De Beers, while concurrently advancing streamlining opportunities to improve cost performance and reduce capital expenditure to minimise the impact from challenging diamond markets,” it said.
For the agreed sale of its nickel business, it is continuing to work through the European Commission’s antitrust approval process.
“Our merger with Teck is on track to form a copper-focused global metals and minerals champion, with the expected completion window of September 2026 to March 2027 unchanged. We continue to progress towards completion, with anti-trust approval from China the final outstanding regulatory milestone,” he said.
While both companies will operate separately until completion, integration planning is well advanced, focused on ensuring that once the transaction closes, Anglo will be well positioned to begin the work to realise the material value and synergies we have identified from Anglo Teck, Wanblad said.
Update: July 23 2026
This story has been updated with more information.
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