Thungela Resources Ltd: Drowning in Liabilities?

Anglo American is demerging its thermal coal operations into a new company called Thungela Resources. We believe that Thungela has massively under-estimated the environmental liabilities associated with closing its mines, which have just five to 11 years of expected life remaining.

Based on our estimates, Thungela’s environmental liabilities could be three times greater than currently reported and are more than the value of the entire company. Our financial model attributes zero value to Thungela. By seemingly underreporting its environmental liabilities, could Anglo and Thungela have misled investors over the true value of these assets?