A year of “fundamental change” for AngloGold Ashanti
AngloGold Ashanti has released its 2023 annual report, where chairperson Maria Ramos described the year as one of “fundamental change”.
The gold miner recorded $4.6 billion in revenue for the period ending December 31 2023, along with about $1.4 in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation and $109 million in free cash flow. A total of $91 million in dividends were also paid to shareholders.
AngloGold chief executive officer Alberto Calderon said the company’s most significant milestone for 2023 was the successful corporate restructuring of the business.
The corporate restructure saw AngloGold transition its primary listing to the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), moving its group headquarters to Denver, US, and its official domicile being the UK.
“This places us directly in the world’s leading capital market, and the largest equity market for gold shares, among the world’s most highly valued producers,” Calderon said.
“We believe this will, in time, lower our cost of capital and position us well for future growth opportunities.”
In Australia, AngloGold saw a 21 per cent increase in total gold production from the previous year by producing 562,000 ounces (oz) of gold.
The Sunrise Dam operation accounted for $47 million of the company’s regional capital expenditure and produced 252,000oz.
“Higher gold production and favourable ore stockpile inventory movements, as well as the weakening of the Australian dollar against the US dollar, offset higher labour and consumables costs and higher royalties paid, contributing to lower total cash costs for 2023 of $1318/oz compared to $1402/oz in 2022,” AngloGold said.
The Tropicana joint venture shared with Regis Resources contributed $87 million to AngloGold’s regional capital expenditure and produced 310,000oz.
“The higher head grade was partially offset by slightly lower ore tonnes processed, due to a larger proportion of harder ore in the mill feed in the second half,” AngloGold said. “Higher waste stripping and drill and blast costs, partially offset by favourable ore stockpile inventory movements and the weakening of the Australian dollar against the US dollar, contributed to a higher total cash cost of $1105/oz for the year compared to the $881/oz reported for 2022.
“Construction of a renewable energy facility at Tropicana started in the second half of the year and is on schedule for completion in early 2025. The facility comprises four 6MW (megawatt) wind turbines, a 24MW solar farm and a 14MW battery storage system.
“It will integrate 62MW of clean energy into Tropicana’s existing 54MW gas fired power system, reducing the site’s diesel and gas consumption for power generation by 96 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, slashing carbon emissions by more than 65,000t (tonnes) annually over a 10-year period.”
AngloGold also rehabilitated 265 hectares of land in 2023, 42ha more than what was rehabilitated in the previous year.
Source: https://www.australianmining.com.au/a-year-of-fundamental-change-for-anglogold-ashanti/
