Anglo American's new cost-cutting plan

Anglo American’s new boss, Mark Cutifani, has unveiled a dramatic recovery plan to slash costs, send expensive projects back to the drawing board and overhaul management at the troubled iron ore-to-diamonds miner.

The 55-year-old Australian today challenged his executives to get their “arses into gear” to achieve a $1.3 billion (£845 million) a year boost to cashflow, as he announced a desperately poor set of first-half results.

Profit before one-off costs was shy of $3.3 billion, 15% down on the first six months of last year and symptomatic of a business that has seen its share price lose around 60% of its value since 2011.

Revenue fell 1% to $16.2 billion. Cutifani, who instigated a highly detailed review of Anglo as soon as he succeeded the much-criticised Cynthia Carroll in April, said: “You’ve got to have renewal and I’m part of that renewal process.

“I’m the only new face, therefore I bring [a different] perspective.”

However, Cutifani has drafted in Tony O’Neill, a trusted lieutenant from his previous company AngloGold Ashanti, as part of a revamp that sees 10 business units consolidated into six in an effort to cut out bureaucracy.

Cutifani said that the mining industry’s work practices compared unfavourably with other industries, such as big oil.

“I’ve said for a long time that the mining industry is 20 to 30 years behind the manufacturing sector,” he argued.