AngloGold Confident Of Outlook

AngloGold Ashanti says the sale of Anglo American shares in the company represents a positive outlook, contrary to some reports that the phenomenon could have an effect on it.

Last two months, Anglo America sold 67.1 million ordinary shares, reducing its total shares in AngloGold to 17 per cent.

The move saw its executives resigning from the board of AngloGold, since their total shareholding had reduced beyond the estimated 20 per cent.

Executive Vice President of AngloGold, Robert Lazare told CITY & DAILY GUIDE that the situation now presents the company with some amount of freedom to explore other fields in the mining sector.

Under AngloGold, he said, their focus was to mine only gold, but the latest move gives the company the flexibility to decide which other options are available to them.

Meanwhile, the company has painted a grim picture of its Obuasi mine, saying it recorded 18.6 per cent below targeted production in its third quarter operations.

The company posted 276,007 ounces of gold production representing 9.6 per cent, below its target year-to-date.

Briefing the media as well as stakeholders and chiefs in its operational area, John Miller, Managing Director for the Obuasi mine told a road show in Accra that Obuasi made a $33 million free cash flow loss year-to-date despite injecting 67.1 million dollars into operations.

He attributed a further $9.4 million loss to the debilitating one year power crisis that hit the country within the period, stressing:

“Obuasi cannot continue to sustain losses year-on-year and could be forced to shut down if the losses do not stop.”

The mine also recorded a loss of $8.6 million dollars in terms of free cash flow in the third quarter.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah