CEO’s REVIEW AND OUTLOOK CONTINUED
Portfolio strength
AngloGold Ashanti also has a strong portfolio
and a well-developed project pipeline, both
with options that will allow us to extend mine
lives, improve margins and sustain growth.
An appropriately geared balance sheet is
fundamental to maintaining strict capital
allocation and ensures we will not be forced
into measures to check falling production or
spiralling costs. This strengthens the business
as discretionary free cash flow is used to
further improve leverage.
In short, you have a business that for 10
years has not issued additional equity, but
has managed to build two new mines; service
what at times was an onerous debt load;
deleverage; invest in its capital needs; fund a
global exploration programme; and return a
dividend to shareholders.
Despite a sharp focus on optimising all
expenditures in recent years on projects –
particularly non-operating spending – the
Company has maintained a truly world-class
suite of exploration assets. I have found
these to be largely under-appreciated by the
market. This provides a good opportunity for
us to daylight nascent value in the business.
These hidden exploration gems include an
exciting asset package in southern Nevada
that continues to go from strength to strength
with every new drill hole. This land package,
known as the Silicon Project, is close to the
Motherlode property of Corvus Gold, a junior
exploration company in which we are the
largest shareholder at 19.8%.
Elsewhere in the US, our generative
exploration teams are doing the groundwork
necessary to test their thesis that a significant
gold deposit is to be found in Northern
Minnesota’s Iron Range. This is the same long-
range, science-based initiative that yielded our
early exploration success in Colombia, which
has since recorded mineral inventory (+60Moz
gold equivalent), and in Western Australia,
where we found, built, and now operate the
impressive Tropicana gold mine.
Colombia is a rich terrain for exploration, and
one in which our first-mover advantage has
given us an excellent foothold. The two most
important projects in our Colombian portfolio
are the Gramalote gold deposit, a joint venture
with B2Gold, and the Quebradona copper/
gold deposit, both in the mining-friendly
Colombian department of Antioquia. We are
at various stages of feasibility study for both
and will devote our focus to them after selling
off the bulk of our non-core tenements in the
country in early March 2019.
Australia is another exciting area for our
geologists, who are working to prove that
major undiscovered potential exists at the
Mount Clarke regional tenement package in
North Queensland.
Elsewhere in the portfolio, our brownfield
drilling programmes, closely integrated with
our ‘Operational Excellence’ initiative, continue
to find new ounces around our current
operating footprint, not only helping us extend
lives at our key mines, but to do so profitably.
Strategy going forward
After completing my first six months as
CEO, and working closely with the senior
management team, we have made the
following decisions as key elements of our plan
to better focus the business and unlock its
significant value.
The balance sheet is the foundation of any
durable and successful business. Excellent
work has been done to transform what was
a heavily geared balance sheet into one that
can comfortably handle significant downside in
the gold price and/or unforeseen operational
disruption. There is significant liquidity, no
immediate debt maturities, and our planning for
this year targets funding all expenditures and
investments from internal sources (i.e. cash-flow
breakeven) at a $1,200/oz gold price.
For a gold-producing company, which produces
a single commodity in an increasingly complex
global operating environment, lower debt
means lower risk and added strategic flexibility.
Over time, these benefits that come with lower
balance sheet leverage will help specifically
improve both credit and equity ratings, thereby
lowering the cost of capital. Therefore, I believe
we would benefit from lowering our current
target of a 1.5 times net debt to adjusted
EBITDA ratio, through the cycle. From this
point on we will target an average ratio of 1.0
times net debt to adjusted EBITDA, through
the cycle; a level that, at our current planning
assumptions, we can reach and hold even as
we invest inward, pay a dividend and service
our debt obligations.
Portfolio rationalisation
From my perspective, the portfolio of 14
assets feels somewhat ‘heavy’. Given the
growing complexity of operating large,
commercial-scale operations anywhere in
the world, my preference is for more focused
management oversight of operating hubs.
With this in mind, in November, we announced
a process to dispose of our interest in the
Sadiola gold mine in Mali and have now also
opted to start a similar process to divest
ourselves of the Cerro Vanguardia mine in
Argentina. As with Mali, Argentina has been a
good jurisdiction for this company for almost
two decades, but with competing demands for
limited capital, we believe another owner will
likely be in a better position to extend the life
of this asset benefitting the local, regional and
national economies. Be assured, we are not
forced sellers and will look to achieve fair value
for these assets. If we do not manage to sell
these, we will keep them and maximise their
efficiencies. As I mentioned, the bulk of the
restructuring in South Africa is now behind us,
leaving a single underground mine (Mponeng)
and a surface business. The latter is made
up principally of the surface rock dump
processing unit, which is near the end of its
life, and the cash generative, long-term Mine
Waste Solutions dump-retreatment operation.
Mponeng is ramping up production from the
‘Below 120 Level’ project, which gives it a
lifespan of around eight years. To extend that
further, this mine will require additional capital
investment starting in about two years and
INTEGRATED REPORT 2018
16
SECTION 2 / DELIVERING ON OUR STRATEGY