DBI Announcement

Anglo American PLC
17 December 2001





                                 News Release
17 December 2001



                 Anglo American plc ('AA plc') notification:

                     DB Investments ('DBI') announcement



AA plc wishes to draw attention to the following announcement made by DBI
today, attached hereto.



DB Investments announcement:

For immediate release                    Monday 17th December 2001



De Beers signs $4bn Trade Agreement with Russia's Alrosa

De Beers and the Russian diamond producer, Alrosa, have signed a new five-year
$4bn trade agreement, providing for sales to De Beers of $800m a year over the
life of the contract.

The agreement was signed today in the Russian Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), by
Mr Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman, and Mr Gary Ralfe, Managing Director, on
behalf of De Beers and Mr Vyacheslav Shtyrov, President, on behalf of Alrosa.
It was signed in the presence of Mr Alexei Kudrin, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.

De Beers believes the agreement will ensure continued confidence and enhanced
efficiency in the world diamond market, particularly in the current economic
climate. That reassurance is important not only to the consumer and the world
diamond industry, but especially to the Governments of Botswana, Namibia and
South Africa. These major producing nations depend on a strong international
market in rough diamonds to support their mines, their employment and the
health of their economies and currencies and to meet their further development
needs.

The agreement will provide a guaranteed source of income to the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia), whose economy is also critically dependent on its diamond
revenue.

For Alrosa itself the contract can be leveraged on the international capital
market to fund the planned re-development and expansion of its diamond mines.
De Beers will continue to provide technical co-operation to Alrosa to assist
in the conversion of its mines from open-pit to underground.

The agreement, the latest in a relationship between De Beers and the Russian
diamond industry dating back more than 40 years, is not an exclusive export
contract, but covers about 50 percent of Alrosa's annual production of rough
diamonds. $500 million will be run-of-mine and $300 million an export
assortment. The remaining 50 percent will be available to supply Russia's own
growing cutting industry.

Under European competition rules, the trade agreement will be notified to the
European Commission for clearance early in 2002. Having been granted clearance
for its retail enterprise with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, De Beers
continues to work closely with the Commission on its Supplier of Choice
strategy. It is committed to addressing any concerns that the Commission may
have about the new trade agreement.

In the meantime and with the benefits to the industry in mind, De Beers and
Alrosa have established an interim framework within which they will continue
to trade on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.

Speaking in Yakutsk today, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Minister of
Finance, Mr Kudrin, welcomed the agreement on behalf of his Government.
'Russia supports the continuation of the trading relationship between Alrosa
and De Beers which will be of great benefit to the Russian diamond industry in
particular, and to the Russian economy in general. It should also contribute
to increased investor confidence in the Russian Federation.'

Mr Vyacheslav Shtyrov also welcomed the agreement and stressed that it was
especially important to the financial stability and economic development of
the Republic of Sakha. 'It will provide Alrosa with guaranteed hard currency
revenue, the security to obtain credits from western financial institutions
and give Alrosa access to De Beers' technical expertise in underground mining.
All this will help Alrosa maintain and increase its production in the years
ahead.'

De Beers' chairman, Mr Nicky Oppenheimer, said that it would enable De Beers
to continue to provide its clients with the full assortment of diamonds - ' to
which Alrosa's supplies make such an important contribution'. As such, it
would play a valuable role in helping De Beers to ' achieve our objective of
expanding demand for diamond jewellery, in competition with other luxury
goods.'


De Beers Contacts:

London          Kate Evan-Jones     (44-207) 430 3531/ (44-7720) 350-234

               Lynette Hori          (44-207) 430 3509/ (44-7740) 393-260



Further information relating to this announcement may be obtained by visiting
www.debeersgroup.com. A selection of images may be downloaded from
www.newscast-online.com