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11
ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW AND BUSINESS MODEL
corporations, with being placed on a watch list for a possible
downgrade by one of these agencies, Standard & Poor’s.
It was only thanks to the company’s resilience and the decisive
proactive steps taken that we were able to defend our
investment grade rating. During 2012, we also undertook long-
term debt raisings to further improve our debt maturity profile
and enhance our liquidity headroom.
The company’s efforts to create new scope for growth bore fruit
during 2012. Our developments at Tropicana in Australia, Kibali
in the DRC and Gramalote in Colombia are extremely exciting.
Both Tropicana and Kibali are forecasting first gold pours within
the next 12 months of this letter and this we believe will be an
important driver in the re-rating upwards of our equity valuation.
In addition to the strong immediate pipeline of our projects, we
were active in pursuing value-accretive acquisitions. We acquired,
for $335m, First Uranium (Pty) Limited, the owner of Mine
Waste Solutions, a recently commissioned tailings retreatment
operation located close to our South African Vaal River tailings
facilities. The asset is expected to contribute around 110,000oz
to annual production at competitive costs as we go into 2013
and 2014. This acquisition has also rendered unnecessary a
substantial capital investment that would have been required to
construct a plant to process our other Vaal River tailings.
We also acquired from Kinross Gold Corporation for $220m
its 50% interest in the Serra Grande mine in Brazil, giving us
full ownership of the asset. This acquisition should increase
AngloGold Ashanti’s production by some 70,000oz a year, as
well as enhancing our Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve and
diversifying our global portfolio base.
For now, the return on these and our other investments, and
the pay-off for operational improvements is slightly dampened
by the fact that the gold price, surprisingly, continues to lack
any real conviction in the face of the continuing uncertainty
in the global economy. The temporary solution to the fiscal
cliff still leaves the issue of the US debt ceiling unresolved
which might further damage prospects for the US dollar.
On-going uncertainty in Europe around economic growth and
the potential for further sovereign funding stress should also
have underpinned the investment case for gold. However, the
success of central bankers in mitigating some of this risk has
undermined that investment case to some extent.
Nonetheless, continued loose monetary policy in the United
States and Europe, with added impetus more recently from
Japan, will ensure that real interest rates in these economic
blocs will not rise anytime soon. This, in conjunction with
continued central bank buying – from mainly non-member
countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) – and improved Chinese off-take
in the face of stronger economic prospects from that region,
should support the gold price in the medium term. With other
emerging markets, especially the Indian economy improving
following tighter economic policy initiatives, we expect some
local currencies to strengthen, thereby pushing down the
price of gold in local currency terms. This will in turn stimulate
jewellery demand and consequently the gold price.
As you will be acutely aware, our share price – along with those
of many of our gold mining peers – suffered a marked decline
during the year. A confluence of factors has weighed on these
valuations, most notably heightened socio-political risk across
several mining jurisdictions, a seemingly inexorable rise in
costs, some injudicious capital allocation and poor delivery on
production targets. While we have scored higher in some areas
than others, we are mindful that we must move with purpose to
address these broad industry concerns where possible to help
improve our valuation. At the heart of our efforts is a concerted
drive to continually improve our operations to more consistently
achieve our guidance and enhance predictability of our earnings.
All the while, we will continue to make judicious, disciplined
decisions on capital allocation in order to ensure we maintain our
record of delivering industry-leading returns. We will continue to
evaluate the impact of these efforts and make adjustments where
necessary as we work to deliver real value to our shareholders.
In conclusion, regarding changes to the board, I’d like to welcome
Michael Kirkwood, who joined us from 1 June 2012. His vast
experience in the international financial arena has already enhanced
the skills set of the board. On 20 February 2013, Tony O’Neill was
appointed as a member of the board. Tony is a recognised global
business and technical expert in the mining industry.
I would also like to pay tribute to the three non-executive
directors who will be retiring at the annual general meeting in May
2013. Frank Arisman and Bill Nairn have served the board with
distinction for many years, Frank since the founding of AngloGold
Ashanti in 1998 and Bill since 2000. We all owe them a great
deal for their hard work and imparted wisdom. We will also bid
farewell to Ferdinand Ohena-Kena, with us since 2010. He, too,
has made a singular contribution to the work of this board.
Lastly, I want to pay tribute to our Chief Executive Officer of the
past five years, Mark Cutifani, whose departure was announced
in January 2013. I thank him for five years of leadership.
While we will seek to find a successor as speedily as possible,
we will be sufficiently patient to ensure that we select the best
possible candidate. In the meanwhile, I cannot think of two
safer pairs of hands than those of Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan
and Tony O’Neill in which to entrust your company during this
transition phase.
TT Mboweni
Chairman
19 March 2013