AngloGold Ashanti

History

AngloGold Ashanti was formed on 26 April 2004, after the High Court of Ghana approved the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation three days earlier. AngloGold had been a gold mining company based in South Africa, majority-owned by the Anglo American group. This came almost a year after the merger was announced on 16 May 2003. In the transaction, Ashanti shareholders received 0.29 ordinary shares of AngloGold for every Ashanti share.

The new company sold its Union Reef Gold Mine in the Northern Territory of Australia in August 2004, followed by the sale of the Freda-Rebecca Gold Mine in Zimbabwe a month later. In late 2007, Mark Cutifani replaced Bobby Godsell as CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, being appointed a director of the company on 17 September 2007 and as CEO on 1 October that year. In 2008, AngloGold produced 4.98 million ounces of gold from its operations, estimated to be seven percent of the global production. In 2009, the company's gold output dropped to 4.6 million ounces. As of early 2008, the company had hedged 11.3 million ounces of gold, under previous CEO Bobby Godsell.

In 2009, AngloGold Ashanti sold its 33% stake in the Boddington Gold Mine in Australia to Newmont Mining for US$1.0 billion and the company's Tau Lekoa Gold Mine in South Africa was sold to Buffelsfontein Gold Mines Limited with ownership being transferred on 1 August 2010.

In May 2010, Russell Edey, chairman of AngloGold since 2002 and, after the merger also of AngloGold Ashanti, was replaced by Tito Mboweni. In October 2010, the company announced the elimination of the last of its hedge book. Under its new CEO, it gradually reduced the hedge to 3.22 million ounces of gold. In October 2010, this remaining amount was paid off with US$2.63 billion, or US$1,300 USD per ounce of gold.

In 2011, AngloGold Ashanti moved into Eritrea to explore the Arabian-Nubian Shield for gold through a 50/50 joint venture set up in 2009 with Thani Dubai Mining. As of the third quarter of 2014, Anglogold was the world's third-largest producer of gold, behind Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining. As of 2019, the company was claimed to be the 'most sophisticated and technologically advanced' mining operations with strict adherence to safety regulations.

In 2020, it sold its last South African mining assets to Harmony Gold for about R4.4 billion. It no longer has any operations left in South Africa but remains listed on the JSE. On 1 September 2020, Chief Financial Officer Christine Ramon became interim CEO following the resignation of Kelvin Dushnisky. There has been speculation that Dushnisky stepped down after shareholders questioned a bonus payment he received from his prior employer Barrick Gold while also taking a signing bonus from AngloGold Ashanti when he was appointed CEO in 2018. Alberto Calderon was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of AngloGold Ashanti on 1 September 2021 As of May 2023, AngloGold Ashanti was the world’s fourth-largest gold miner with assets in Ghana, Australia, the US, and Argentina.

In January 2025 a Ghanaian small-scale miners' association reported that soldiers killed nine unarmed people at an AngloGold Ashanti mine in Obuasi. Kofi Adams, chairman of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, stated that 14 others were severely injured and emphasized that the victims were not armed. However, the Ghanaian army claimed that seven illegal miners were killed in a firefight, alleging that about 60 miners armed with locally manufactured rifles breached the mine's security fence and fired at a military patrol, prompting the shootout. AngloGold Ashanti is a signatory participant of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Gold production, 2004-2012

Gold production figures for the company's mines since 2004 in ounces per annum were

Criticism

In August 2008 British charity War on Want published a report accusing Anglo American (who at the time owned 17% of AngloGold Ashanti) of profiting from the abuse of people in the developing countries in which the company operates. The company disclosed itself in 2006 or in 2008 for unacceptable safety performance in its platinum mines. Safety measures were taken. Additionally, in 2005 the staff of the AGA exploration team in Ituri made a US$8,000 payment to the FNI, which had been accused of committing various humans rights abuses.

In January 2011, AngloGold Ashanti was awarded the Public Eye Global Award at the Public Eye Awards hosted with Greenpeace in Davos, Switzerland by the Erklärung von Bern, known in English as the Berne Convention. The award has been interpreted as being for the "most irresponsible company". The nominating organisation, WACAM (Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining), said the company had a history of "gross human rights violations and environmental problems."

Colombia's Truth Commission found AngloGold Ashanti responsible for financing paramilitary groups that murdered peasants and community leaders. The same company has been accused of destroying water sources and forcibly displacing thousands of people in the Cauca region.