The London-listed company has already approved $4.7 billion (£2.5 billion) worth of new projects and has another $8 billion in new deals on the drawing board.

But Tony Trahar, chief executive, said yesterday that Anglo American would not be pressured into accelerating new projects, despite the insatiable demand for raw materials resulting from the booming economies of China and India, and the resilience of the US.

“We must resist the temptation. We have to go through the normal valuation process and make sure they are good long-term projects,” he said.

“On the supply side, global (metals) output is generally set to increase and much will depend on the industry maintaining capital discipline in the face of higher commodity prices.”

China’s massive economic growth in 2004, which fuelled the best global growth conditions for 25 years, is expected to ease this year but remain strong enough to underpin soaring commodity prices. High metal prices, in turn, have triggered a rush to bring new production on stream.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the world’s biggest diversified miners, have already earmarked billions of dollars worth of projects. Xstrata, the smaller London-listed miner, has resorted to a £3.4 billion cash takeover bid for WMC Resources, the Australian copper, nickel and uranium producer, to provide much-needed organic growth.

Mr Trahar all but ruled out a counter bid for WMC. He said that his company was “cautious about valuations at this point in the cycle”.

Instead, he pointed to Anglo American’s organic growth pipeline, which is spread across coal, diamonds, base and ferrous metals and gold. Anglo American, which part-owns De Beers, AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo Platinum, also has extensive paper and packaging investments.

Mr Trahar was speaking after Anglo American reported a 74 per cent increase in full-year pre-tax profit to $4.6 billion. Group turnover was up 28 per cent to $31.8 billion.

The miner declared a 51 cent final dividend, bringing the full-year return to 70 cents per share, up 30 per cent.

Anglo American’s profit, which was at the lower end of market expectations, was driven by price increases for several of its key commodities and helped to offset a $385 million currency exchange charge. The miner also achieved $554 million worth of cost savings and efficiency gains, eclipsing the $250 million target.

Anglo American’s profit also included proceeds from an active asset disposal programme. The miner made a $464 million profit on the sale of its 20 per cent stake in Gold Fields to Norilsk Nickel, the Russian group. Norilsk is backing Harmony Gold Mining’s hostile bid for Gold Fields, which is awaiting regulatory approval.

Anglo American’s shares fell 32p to £13.05 yesterday.

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