Anglo American plc announces that Cynthia Carroll has decided to step down as Chief Executive, with the Board’s agreement. Cynthia will remain in her post until a successor has been appointed and an appropriate transition has taken place.

Cynthia Carroll was appointed to the Anglo American Board in January 2007 and formally took over as Chief Executive in March of that year. Under Cynthia’s leadership, after a record year in 2008, the Group successfully weathered the global financial crisis. In 2011, Anglo American again achieved record profits, for the Group as a whole and in four of its seven Business Units, as well as delivering three major projects from its substantial project pipeline, enabling it to enter the current economic downturn in a strong position.

Explaining her decision to step down, Cynthia said: “It has been a great honour to lead Anglo American. I am extremely proud of everything we have achieved during my period as Chief Executive and I will always retain enormous admiration and affection for this great company and its outstanding people. It is a very difficult decision to leave, but next year I will be entering my seventh year as Chief Executive and I feel that the time will be right to hand over to a successor who can build further on the strong foundations we have created.”