Mining group Anglo American has held secret talks with Zimbabwe's opposition, that could see Anglo Platinum, its majority-owned subsidiary, regain lucrative concessions recently ceded to the regime of Robert Mugabe, the president.

In a sign of how the convulsions in Zimbabwe could affect some of the world's most coveted resources, two senior figures in the Movement for Democratic Change told the Financial Times that the party had held discussions with the mining company, which has a 76 per cent stake in Anglo Platinum.