(Corrects chairman’s name, paras 8-9))

* Says still in talks with some parties on platinum sale

* Minas Rio iron project a drag on shares-chairman

* Minas Rio currently breaking even after capital-CEO

By Silvia Antonioli

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L – news) favours
a listing of some South African platinum mines as the most
likely route to divesting those assets, the mining group’s chief
executive said on Friday.

Platinum has been a problem for London and
Johannesburg-listed Anglo American for some time, due
to recurrent strikes and stubbornly weak prices.

Anglo American Platinum has said that it would
divest several assets, including some in Rustenburg, which was
at the centre of a five-month strike last year. This is part of
a plan to switch to more mechanised mining.

“We are still in negotiations with some parties regarding a
potential trade sale but from our point of view, at this stage,
the preferred option is an IPO,” chief executive Mark Cutifani
said at the company’s annual general meeting, referring to a
stock market listing.

Anglo’s sale price expectations are struggling to meet the
offers from the potential buyers, according to sources familiar
with the process.

South African precious metals mining firms Sibanye Gold
and Northam Platinum as well as
community-owned firm Baroka Platinum are among the parties which
have shown interest in buying some of these assets.

Talks between Amplats and Baroka are ongoing, a source
familiar with the matter said.

Chairman John Parker, responding to a shareholder question
at the meeting about the company’s weak share price performance
versus peers, said the share performance had been disappointing
and blamed this, at least in part, on the costly Minas Rio iron
ore project in Brazil.

“I think we have had a lot of headwinds in a number of
areas. Without doubt Minas Rio has been a huge drag on the
company’s balance sheet, a huge drag on the share price until it
can show a clean yield,” Parker said.

After a slump in iron ore price, Anglo took a $3.5 billion
impairment earlier this year on Minas Rio, which started
exporting some iron ore in late 2014.

The project, which will cost about $8.4 billion, has been
plagued by delays and cost overruns since Anglo bought it in
2007-2008 for about $5.5 billion.

“Today with the currency moving in our favour and some
operational improvements we are around break even. In the next
12 months the team has set some aggressive targets to try and
create some space (to come down to) the low $40s,” Cutifani
said.

Due to its high quality, Minas Rio’s iron ore fetches a
premium of about $5-8 dollar to the iron ore benchmark, which is
currently at around $50 per tonne.

($1 = 12.1904 rand)

(Additional reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Pratima Desai;
Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Jane Merriman)