The mining giant Anglo American is planning to dismiss staff who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid, including those in the UK, The Telegraph can reveal.

As the omicron variant spreads, the FTSE 100 owner of De Beers diamonds is consulting its employees about the new rules, which it intends to introduce in the first few months of next year.

Anglo has more than 95,000 employees and contractors worldwide, including 1,300 workers at the new Woodsmith Mine in North Yorkshire and hundreds more at its London headquarters.

Documents seen by The Telegraph indicate that when introduced, the vaccine requirement will apply to all employees, contractors and any visitors to Anglo sites. It will also apply to all new joiners.

The timing and implementation of the policy will vary around the world depending on differing national legislation. Exemptions to the policy will only be considered on medical grounds.

The company is believed to have already rolled out a vaccine mandate at some of its sites in Canada.

Anglo employees will be told that if they refuse to disclose their vaccination status to the company, this lack of proof will mean they will be considered as unvaccinated.

An internal update about the proposals states that employees will need to be vaccinated “to be able to perform their role” and those who refuse may be let go “as a last resort”.

It adds that if a vaccine mandate is introduced, employees would be “given a reasonable amount of time to get vaccinated prior to any consequences being imposed.”

The report also states that any such requirement “would only apply where there is good availability and access to vaccines”.  The company operates mines across several countries in southern Africa with low vaccine uptakes, including 26 mines in South Africa as well as sites in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.  

Anglo is thought to be considering introducing a mandate now because of the improved availability of vaccines around the world. In its report, the company also references certain governments mandating vaccines for access to public services as a justification for the measure.

The company said that mine workers can be at risk of covid due to the “inherent nature of some mining activities” and that this also applies to office-based employees who “typically work in confined settings and interact in communal spaces”.

In 2020 Anglo had a revenue of over £30bn. As well as dominating diamond supplies, one of its subsidiaries is the world’s largest producer of platinum.