Bloomberg reported that Ms Cynthia Carroll CEO of Anglo American Plc signaled that she is prepared to seek an out of court resolution to a dispute with Chile’s Codelco over ownership of the world’s fifth biggest copper mine.

Ms Cynthia Carroll said that we have stated very clearly and consistently that we are open to working with Codelco to agree a commercial solution and we urge Codelco and its board to act constructively to that end.

Codelco said that it has the right to buy 49 percent of Anglo’s Sur unit, which owns the Los Bronces mine in Chile, for USD 6 billion and is suing Anglo after the London-based company sold 24.5 percent of the unit to Mitsubishi Corporation in November for USD 5.39 billion. Anglo is seeking to annul the option contract on the grounds that Codelco breached terms by trying to exercise the option prematurely in a funding deal with Mitsui & Company Limited.

Anglo said that the dispute is contractual and should be resolved as such referring to a criminal accusation regarding the Mitsubishi sale made by the president of the Federation of Copper Workers in Chile, a member of the Codelco board.

Ms Carroll said that criminal proceedings against individuals is completely inappropriate in what is a contractual dispute between companies, particularly when initiated by a Codelco board member.

(Sourced from Bloomberg.net)