JOHANNESBURG, (The Southern African Times) – South Africa-headquartered gold miner AngloGold Ashanti ANGJ.J said on Monday its free cash flows for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 were down 95% from last year on lower gold prices, production and lesser impact of the pandemic.
The miner, which has operations spread across Africa, Australia and Latin America, recorded free cash flow of $17 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared with $336 million last year.
AngloGold, much like its global peers, had reaped huge benefits of all-time high gold prices that peaked in August 2020 to more than $2,000 an ounce, helping the miner to post record profit, cut debt and announce bumper dividends.
But bullion prices have declined since then, albeit gradually, on worries of rising interest rates and improving health of economies globally.
Operations at the company were also hit by a fatal accident in May at one of its biggest mines in Africa – the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana. The accident forced the company to trim its 2021 full-year outlook by 11% to 2.4 million-2.6 million ounces in August.
AngloGold, which produced 3.047 million ounces in 2020, said its newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Alberto Calderon has prioritised cost reductions and improvements in operating and capital efficiencies.
The miner produced 613,000 ounces of gold in the reported quarter, compared with 741,000 ounces produced in the year-ago period at a production cost that was 35% higher in the current quarter.
