JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – AngloGold’s 70%-owned and managed Tropicana gold mine, which comes in at the low all-in cost of $674/oz, on Wednesday celebrated its million-ounce milestone, two years after pouring first gold.

The Australian mine, the first that AngloGold Ashanti discovered and developed outside of South Africa, has improved the Johannesburg- and New York-listed miner’s global portfolio by bringing cheap ounces into its production base.

In the three months to September 30, Tropicana produced 118 204 oz at a total cash cost of $500/oz.
 
The operation, in which Independence Group NL is the holder of the remaining 30% shareholding, came in for high praise at Monday’s presentation of third-quarter results when AngloGold International COO Ron Largent commended its strong performance and noted that weaker local currency was turbocharging further cost improvements.

“Its millionth ounce on schedule is testament to the hard work of everyone,” said AngloGold senior VP Australia Michael Erickson.

A mill optimisation study now under way aims to better the already-fair throughput of Tropicana, which is located 330 km east-northeast of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.

A key slide flashed up at Monday’s presentation of third-quarter results showed Kibali, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tropicana, as low-cost front runners - and exposed South African West Wits and Vaal River mines as the laggards of the company's portfolio of 19 operations in nine countries.

Once the pride of the company, the South African mines have now slumped into ‘outlier’ status at a time when the lower-cost international operations are firing on all cylinders.

AngloGold, which had a major third-quarter safety setback in South Africa when it suffered five fatalities, generated $5.2-billion in gold income from a production of 4.4-million ounces of gold in 2014.