Anglo American Platinum said it would be willing to sacrifice its status as the world's largest producer of the metal as it puts some mines up for sale.

Amplats, as the Johannesburg-based Anglo American Plc unit is known, is seeking buyers for four mines and possibly stakes in two joint ventures after first-half profit dropped 88 per cent because of a five-month pay strike.

"It is not important to us" to be the biggest, chief executive Chris Griffith said. "Being the biggest guy by ounces and then not being a profitable company that you can invest in, that's not a solution and that's not a desire for us."

The strike by more than 70,000 miners at Amplats, Impala and Lonmin Plc cost workers 10.6 billion rand (€738 million) in wages by the time it ended on June 24th. – Bloomberg