Within days of Xstrata's withdrawal, Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll announced a major overhaul of the group's global management structure and plans to sell more assets.

As part of the management shake-up, Anglo's coal unit head, Ian Cockerill, left, as did ferrous metals head Philip Baum, and human resources and strategy head Russell King.

Asset sales will include Scaw Metals, Copebras, Cataleo and all its zinc businesses.

Anglo said it would create seven business units based in the core geographic areas for the operations. Their CEOs would report directly to Carroll.

The restructuring was expected to result in a reduction of overhead staff of about 25% and cost savings of about 120m a year.

Carroll has pledged to cut costs by 2bn by 2011.

There has been widespread speculation that after turning away from Anglo, Xstrata could revive its bid for Lonmin, in which it has retained a 24,9% stake. Asked if there had been another approach from Xstrata, Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer said he "could neither confirm nor deny" it.

This comes as Xstrata's proposed "merger of equals" with Anglo American is proving difficult, and talks about it look set to drag on for longer than expected.

Lonmin declined yesterday to comment "on the speculation", saying it would do so only once it had seen a formal offer from Xstrata. An Xstrata spokesman said the group "does not comment on market speculation or rumour".

The Observer in London reported at the weekend that a move on Lonmin was also likely to force Xstrata to abandon its ambition to merge with Anglo.

Anglo earlier this year spurned Xstrata's proposed merger.

But Xstrata's interest in launching a fresh bid for Lonmin may suggest that it has not given up its dream of becoming a significant platinum player, even if its Anglo bid fails to materialise.

The reports quoted analysts as saying a renewed bid for Lonmin could suggest that an Xstrata- Anglo deal was either dead or turning into a much longer game than expected.

That is because Lonmin, if acquired, would need to be divested in order for Xstrata and Anglo to merge. Anglo Platinum -- majority owned by Anglo American -- and Lonmin are the world's largest and third-largest miners of platinum and their control of more than half of the world's platinum production would raise competition problems.