London-based Anglo American plc's new head, Mark Cutifani, outlined his initial plans to improve the performance of the lagging miner on Friday. The Australian engineer vowed to halve the company's US$17 billion project pipeline, create cost-cutting moves and turnaround Anglo American's declining income by 2016.

Anglo American, a British multinational mining company with headquarters in London, United Kingdom, is the world's biggest producer of platinum, contributing to around 40% of world output. The smallest among the major diversified miners, Anglo has failed to catch up to its peers for the past several years, most recently experiencing labor unrest in its South African unit and cost overruns that reached billions in Brazil. 

Cutifani, who joined the mining company from South Africa-based gold producer AngloGold last April, laid out his plans following the report of a 15% drop in net profit in the half-year results.

Anglo reported earlier that half-year operating profit dropped to US$3.3 billion, though still topping a predicted estimate of US$3.12 billion.

"Are we tapping the potential we have as a group? The answer is no," stated Cutifani to investors and analysts, after describing Anglo's performance "unacceptably poor". "Over the last eight (quarters) only 11 percent of operations are delivering consistently against their targets - we have to up that."