The miner wrote down the value of its embattled diamond business again as it seeks to ready the division for disposal.

Anglo American posted an annual loss of $3.1 billion on Thursday after taking an impairment of $3.8 billion, mostly due to its ailing diamond unit, as it races to restructure into a major copper producer following a bruising takeover battle with BHP last year.

Anglo American wrote down the value of its struggling De Beers diamond business by another $2.9B, after already writing down the business by $1.6B to $7.6B last year.