Anglo American has announced that director Barry Davison is to continue working as chairman of Angloplat.

The announcement was made at the firm's annual general meeting by Anglo chairman Mark Moody-Stuart, who revealed that Mr Davison would retire from Anglo's board in December this year, but also continue working as a director for a number of other Anglo group companies.

Mr Davison was appointed a member of the executive committee of Anglo American in December 2000 and an executive director in May 2001. He was then made executive chairman of AngloPlat at the end of May 2001.

World economy was also a key issue for Anglo American at the meeting, with the firm expecting the economy to continue growing, but at a slower rate than before, according to the South African Sunday Times.

Anglo chief executive, Tony Trahar, said: "Although there are certainly grounds for concern regarding the volatility of currencies, the dollar prices for many of our mining products continue at high levels and these should more than offset the adverse impact of the weak dollar on some of our export businesses.

"I believe that our geographic and product diversity, together with our expanding asset base, will continue to underpin our results in 2005," he added.

Angloplat recently revealed that it had made a good start to 2005 with results showing its platinum production remained on target.

The world number one platinum miner hopes to produce 2.6 million troy ounces of refined platinum this year, with the majority produced in the second half of the year.