Anglo American is selling its Australian steelmaking coal mines to UK-based Dhilmar for up to $3.88bn (R64.7bn) more than a year after an underground explosion derailed the group’s initial sale plans.The announcement puts the mining giant back on track for its copper-centred merger with Teck Resources later this year, said Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad.Securing the coal buyer had been an essential step in the company’s shift to focus entirely on copper, iron ore and potash. Over the past year it has sold off its platinum group metals and nickel businesses.With steelmaking coal also gone, the tricky sale of diamond business De Beers now looms large over the company’s ambitions.Exiting the diamonds business is central to the simplification, but a weak diamond market continues to stave off attractive offers.“This agreement represents another major step in the simplification of our portfolio ahead of completing our merger with Teck,” Wanblad said in a statement.“Through this transaction we will complete our exit from steelmaking coal, delivering aggregate cash proceeds of up to $4.9bn, given the prior completion of the sale of our interest in the Jellinbah mine for about $1bn.”Dhilmar, a young company run by Indonesian billionaire Alexander Ramlie, was founded in 2025. That same year it acquired its flagship asset for $795m from gold major Newmont, Canada’s Éléonore gold mine.Ramlie has a long career in investment banking and is also commissioner of Amman Mineral Internasional, which operates one of the largest copper and gold mines in Indonesia.The deal will see Dhilmar pay an upfront cash consideration of $2.3bn, plus a price-linked earnout of up to $1.57bn, with Anglo using the cash proceeds to pay off its net debt.In March last year, an underground explosion at Moranbah, the largest of the steelmaking coal mines in Western Australia, threw a spanner in the works of Anglo’s restructuring plans.Soon after the fire, US-based Peabody Energy withdrew its $3.7bn bid (made in November 2024) to buy the coal mining portfolio, saying the fire has done material damage to its value. Anglo disputed this.The fallout was a protracted period of talks which ended in a complete collapse of the deal, with both sides threatening legal action.In its statement on Monday, Anglo reiterated its stance that the incident at Moranbah did not constitute a “material adverse change”. It said it continued to pursue arbitration with Peabody.The coal portfolio includes an 88% stake in the Moranbah and Grosvenor mines, a 70% interest in Capcoal, an 86.36% stake in Roper Creek joint venture, a 51% interest in Dawson joint venture and a 50% stake in the Moranbah South joint venture.Anglo’s mega merger with Canadian copper group Teck Resources will produce the world’s fifth largest producer of copper, offering shareholders more than 70% exposure to the metal.The combined group is expected to be worth about $95bn at present share prices and is expected to cross its final regulatory hurdles in the second half of 2026.