Anglo American (AAUKF.US) CEO Duncan Wanblad said on Thursday that the company has held talks with several technology companies that are interested in taking equity stakes in the miner as a way to lock in long-term metal supply.
Speaking at the UK Metals and Mining Summit, Wanblad said no such equity investments have been finalized yet, but "there are some very deep expressions of interest that lean toward trying to do this," because "given the scarcity issues we have been talking about, many people are trying every possible way to lock in supply."
Technology companies use large amounts of copper, aluminum, steel, and various rare earth metals when manufacturing products and operating the data centers that support artificial intelligence.
BHP Group Ltd (BHP.US) Chief Financial Officer Vandana Pant also said at the summit that the company is in talks with several hyperscale cloud service providers and is working with Amazon (AMZN.US) to help it obtain low-carbon copper, though equity investment is "a different matter."
"If you are a customer, what you are looking for is a very reliable supply you can depend on," Pant said.
Wanblad also told the summit that if the European Union does not approve the plan to sell these assets to China's MMG, Anglo American will likely shut down its nickel business in Brazil.
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