by Vivian Teo
AngloGold Ashanti is expecting gold production at 3.6-3.8 million ounces this year, compared to 3.83 million ounces last year, the company said Monday.
The company had sold its Cripple Creek & Victor mine in the US in August last year, while production at its Mali mines is declining, it said.
Additionally, its Obuasi mine in Ghana is in limited operations phase with no production anticipated in 2016. The mine was suspended at end-2014 after incurring heavy financial losses over several years.
The company’s gold production had fallen by nine percent in 2015. Production in the October-December quarter fell 14 percent year-on-year but rose two percent quarter-on-quarter to 997,000 ounces.
Its South African production in the fourth quarter fell 16 percent year-on-year but has started to show a modest recovering from operational challenges related principally to safety disruptions in the first three quarter of the year, it said.
The company reported a total of eleven fatalities during 2015, primarily at its South African operations.
Other than South Africa, the company also has gold projects in Continental Africa, North and South Africa and Australia.
AngloGold also said on Monday that it has cut net debt by almost a third last year after margins increased despite lower gold prices.
Its net debt fell 30 percent to $2.19 billion at the end of 2015 after it used most of the proceeds from its Cripple Creek & Victor mine sale to repay its debt.
