Yesterday, Anglo American announced that it had agreed to sell some of Australia’s most emissions-intensive coal mines to a new private owner, Dhilmar, shifting some of the country’s biggest methane away from shareholder interests and corporate transition plans, and into the hands of a largely unknown, 18 month old owner.
Last year, Anglo American’s coal mine portfolio released just over 3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. But last year was anything but normal. Grosvenor mine effectively closed all year, following a methane explosion event in June 2024, while production at Moranbah North was paused in March 2025, also as a result of challenges managing the underground environment.As a result, production fell across Anglo’s coal portfolio by around 30%, reducing their relative climate impact by close to 1 million tonnes compared to last year.
However, with a staged restart underway at Moranbah North, and the goal to bring Grosvenor back online in 2027, these emissions could easily return to normal levels, adding a major methane headache to an already challenging sectoral task. In 2023, for example, Anglo’s mines represented close to a quarter of all reported scope 1 emissions from QLD coal mines.
