Diversified miner AngloGold Ashanti has reported a strong performance in the 2023 financial year, having achieved production guidance at 2.6-million ounces and $109-million of free cash flow.

The company declared a dividend of $0.19 in respect of the second half of the year.

Gross profit amounted to $1.02-billion in the 2023 financial year, compared with gross profit of $1.12-billion in the prior year.  

Notably, the company managed to nearly double its overall mineral resource of gold in the Beatty District of Nevada to 16-million ounces, after declaring a 9.1-million-ounce inferred mineral resource at the Merlin deposit in the reporting year.

CEO Alberto Calderon says the discovery is among the largest in the US in more than a decade and, with its good grade potential, may well be a meaningful project for the company and the region.

AngloGold further notes that the Geita, Iduapriem and Kibali mines, in Africa, as well as the Tropicana mine, in Australia, made strong improvements in the second half of the year, compared with the first, which helped to bring total operating costs down.

The company is working to narrow the valuation gap with its North America-based peers by improving relative cost performance.

The company’s all-in sustaining costs came to $1 538/oz for the year, which is above guidance, owing to higher sustaining capital expenditure; however, total cash costs per ounce, of $1 108/oz, were within the guided range.

AngloGold’s adjusted net debt increased to $1.2-billion as at December 31, 2023, from $878-million in December 2022, mainly owing to lower cash generation from operating activities and one-off costs associated with its corporate restructuring.

Meanwhile, AngloGold is advancing the North Bullfrog project beyond feasibility stage, subject to necessary permits and approvals. The project is anticipated to be the first of the company’s Nevada operations to enter production.

The feasibility study on North Bullfrog confirms an internal rate of return of 13%, at a gold price of $1 600/oz.

AngloGold expects regulatory approvals to be finalised during the first half of 2025.

The company has set its 2024 production guidance at between 2.59-million and 2.79-million ounces, which would increase to between 2.65-million and 2.85-million ounces by 2025.