ANGLOGOLD Ashanti rebounded to a third-quarter profit on higher gold prices, after suffering a loss in the corresponding period due to restructuring costs and other one-off factors, said Reuters citing the miner’s published numbers on Thursday.
Headline earnings came in at $236m in the quarter ended September 30 compared to a headline loss of $194m during the same period last year.
AngloGold’s income during the September quarter of 2023 was impacted by costs associated with switching its primary listing from Johannesburg to New York, and moving its headquarters from South Africa to London, said Reuters.
There were also impairments and losses on derecognition of assets and insurance claims in the prior period which did not recur in the current period, the newswire said.
The increase in earnings came despite a 3% decline in production and was partly offset by higher operating costs, losses on non-hedge derivatives, higher care and maintenance costs, lower equity earnings from associates and non-managed joint ventures and higher taxation, said Reuters.
AngloGold also announced today it was yet to make a breakthrough on a proposed joint venture with Gold Fields in Ghana.
An agreement to jointly operate Gold Fields’s Tarkwa mine and Iduapriem, a neighbouring mine owned by AngloGold, was announced in March 2023. The proposal envisaged that Ghana would take a 10% stake in the joint venture with Gold Fields and AngloGold holding 60% and 30% respectively.
“Notwithstanding constructive engagement with the Government of Ghana since the announcement of the proposed joint venture on 16 March 2023, the requisite approvals by the Government of Ghana for the proposed Joint Venture have not yet been obtained,” said Gold Fields in its announcement.
It’s understood the sticking points with Ghana’s finance ministry, which has to give its final approval of the arrangement, relate to the size of the allotted equity and taxes.
“This should always have been one asset,” said Alberto Calderon, CEO of AngloGold at the time the joint venture proposal was announced. “It’s just separated by fences. The two operations produce 700,000 to 800,000 ounces a year and the joint venture will produce 900,000 oz,” he said.
However, AngloGold said it would complete its combination with Egypt’s 470,000 oz/year Centamin on October 28. The deal, announced in September, comprised shares and cash worth $2.5bn.
