Anglo American Leads the Mining Industry in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index 2012

LONDON, March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Business in the Community (BITC) has awarded Anglo American a platinum ranking in the 2012 Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) - the UK's leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility. Anglo American is among 30 leading UK companies, and the only mining group, to secure platinum status, which recognises companies for embedding corporate responsibility across their business, with incentive structures at Board and operational levels and considerable stakeholder engagement.

Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American, commented: 'Managing the social, economic and environmental impacts of our operations is critical to our success. We believe our pro-active approach to delivering value in our host communities remains a key differentiator for Anglo American.

'Securing platinum status in the Corporate Responsibility Index for the third consecutive year demonstrates our true position of leadership, and we are committed to building on these strong results. Business in the Community's recognition of our emphasis on stakeholder engagement, in particular, is significant for Anglo American. We are dedicated to listening to our host communities and understanding their needs and working alongside our various stakeholder groups to create social, economic and environmental initiatives that have the most positive impact.'

'We are committed to our pro-active and collaborative approach to tackling the issues and the challenges that we face as an industry and to operating in a safe, sustainable way that enhances our host communities, across the world,' Ms Carroll added.

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, commented: 'I congratulate Anglo American on achieving platinum status in the 2012 BITC CR Index. The CR Index has helped to highlight clearly those best practice examples that bring to life in a powerful way what integrated responsible practice really looks like. As we celebrate 10 years of our CR Index it has given me great pleasure to witness each company's responsible business journey and the transformations they are making both within their businesses and in our communities.'

For more information about Anglo American's approach to sustainable development, please visit http://www.angloamerican.com/development/approach-and-policies or watch Anglo American's sustainable development videos on You Tube by clicking on the below links:

Enterprise Development: Anglo American Zimele [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOquntB1bZk&list=UU3KrEjbgxO7cnM8-hEzapjw&index=5&feature=plcp ]

Anglo American Zimele - interview with Cynthia Carroll [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB872XxkJFA&list=PL630DFA6295E896DF&index=5&feature=plpp_video ]

Safety: Where safety means more [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv9cJfBtkJQ&list=UU3KrEjbgxO7cnM8-hEzapjw&index=9&feature=plcp ]

Health: Bhubezi community health centre [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlO4HwshWdc&list=PL630DFA6295E896DF&index=1&feature=plpp_video ]

Notes to editors:

Anglo American is one of the world's largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Anglo American's portfolio of mining businesses spans bulk commodities - iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals - copper and nickel; and precious metals and minerals - in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds. Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The company's mining operations, extensive pipeline of growth projects and exploration activities span southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Asia and Europe.

http://www.angloamerican.com

About the CR Index

Business in the Community's CR Index is the UK's leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility (CR). It helps companies to integrate and improve CR throughout their operations by providing a systematic approach to managing, measuring and reporting on business impacts in society and on the environment. For the past ten years the CR Index has inspired and challenged over 350 companies to continuously improve their impact on society and the environment. This year we expect to have more than 100 companies participate publicly and use our tool to both improve their management practices and communicate to stakeholders how seriously they take their CR agenda.

http://www.bitc.org.uk

Anglo American Plc

CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Emily Blyth, Tel:

+44(0)20-7968-8481, James Wyatt-Tilby, Tel: +44(0)20-7968-8759