South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti may cut 8,500 jobs

Johannesburg (AFP) - AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third largest gold miner, said Wednesday it was considering 8,500 job cuts in South Africa as part of a turnaround strategy to curb losses.

"This restructuring contemplates some 8,500 roles across AngloGold Ashanti's South African business," the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement.

The firm employs around 28,000 people.

It said challenges faced in South Africa included the "near-depletion of ore reserves" while some older mines had become uneconomic.

"This is a difficult decision which follows a period of significant and ultimately unsustainable losses, and also the evaluation of the options available to return our South African business to profitability," said chief executive Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan.

"(We) are committed to supporting all our employees throughout this process."

In May, the firm reported a 16 percent drop in first quarter profit due to a drop in production from South Africa.

The firm named its TauTona and Kopanang operations, southwest of Johannesburg, as having sustained "significant operating losses".

The redundancies are likely to add more woes to the mining sector that has been shedding jobs in South Africa due to weak commodity prices and falling output.

The proposal to cut jobs is likely to meet with resistance from labour unions whose members often embark on lengthy strikes.

About 70,000 jobs have been lost in South Africa's mining industry over the past five years.

AngloGold Ashanti has operations in South America, Western Australia and other parts of Africa.