World third largest gold mining company, AngloGold Ashanti with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa has plans of selling some of its mines so as to cut its borrowed debt by US$ 1bn.
AngloGold’s CEO, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan confirmed the news and further said that they intend to consider all possible measures to generate cash to aid them to cut borrowing and this might lead to a sale or partnership of an operating asset.
He pointed out that the company as per now has already reduced their debt substantially in each of the last three quarters despite a lower gold price.
Currently in the past three months, their earnings from gold mining depreciated from US$ 576m US$ 2m in the corresponding period of 2013 but up from a loss of $4 million in the previous quarter.
The company also recorded a production increase of 1.13 million ounces, which represents 2.7 percent. All the company’s sustaining costs fell 2.3 percent to US$1,036 per ounce. The company expects to reach a production of 4.35-4.45 million ounces for the full year, and manage sustaining costs between US$1,025 and US$1,075 an ounce.
All this comes just after the company sold its Navachab mine in Namibia in May this year, the earthquake in South Africa that led to much loss, and the planned transition of the Obuasi Mine in Ghana to limited operating state by the end of the year.
AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 through the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. It is a global gold producer with 21 operations in four continents. The company is listed on the New York, Johannesburg, Accra, London and Australian stock exchanges, as well as the Paris and Brussels bourses.
The company announced earlier on August that it would resume operations in mines affected by seismic activities, namely the Great Noligwa and Moab Khotsong mines.