Alberto Calderon
CEO: AngloGold Ashanti
‘We’ve struggled with the disconnect between our production size and relative size to our North American peers. We’ve systematically addressed these issues’
ALBERTO Calderon accomplished one of his key goals in 2025, eliminating the enduring discount between AngloGold and its North American peers. “I think it has closed in some of them 100%; in others, two-thirds. So at this stage, I think that is not an issue anymore,” he said in August. Mission done and dusted, Calderon – a methodical economist – can focus on the company’s expansion plans against the backdrop of a red-hot gold price, which smashed new records above $4,000 an ounce in 2025.
With that and a primary New York listing, the company plans to spend $100m to lift production at its Geita mine in Tanzania by 20% to 600,000oz/year. Geita has been one of the jewels in AngloGold's crown with its consistently strong operating results, as has Obuasi in Ghana – an asset that just a few years ago had been mothballed and overrun by artisanal miners. In an eventful year and even before the gold price hit $3,000/oz, let alone $4,000, AngloGold changed its dividend policy in February 2025 to 50% of free cash flow from 20%.
The company’s suite of top-tier assets and new dividend policy – now reflected in the elimination of its discount – allow AngloGold to focus on organic growth as gold’s dizzying run in 2025 has greatly raised the costs of M&A. “The best opportunities remain within,” Calderon pointedly said in November.
LIFE OF ALBERTO
A rare breed among mining CEOs – typically engineers, geologists or accountants – Calderon is a PhD economist, which probably allows him to connect the dots in insightful ways. And as a Colombian, he is also an outlier in global mining C-suites dominated by South African, Canadian and Australian accents. A keen tennis player, Calderon is also an avid reader and collector of rare first editions. He was previously CEO of Orica – the world’s largest mining explosives company – and of giant Colombian coal company Cerrejón.
