AngloGold picks Harmony to buy South African assets
JOHANNESBURG – AngloGold Ashanti has picked Harmony Gold Mining as the buyer for its last remaining South African operations, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two companies are still finalising the exact terms of the deal for the Mponeng mine and surface facilities, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
AngloGold is selling the assets as CEO Kelvin Dushnisky focuses on more profitable mines in Ghana, Australia and the Americas. Harmony – backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals – is hunting for deals to replenish declining reserves in South Africa. Harmony paid $300-million for AngloGold’s Moab Khotsong mine in 2017.
Marian Van Der Walt, a spokesperson for Harmony, and AngloGold spokeperson Chris Nthite declined to comment.
Mponeng, the world’s deepest mine, produced 265 000 oz of gold in 2018, while output from the surface operations, which extract the precious metal from ore dumps, totaled 171 000 oz. Those South African assets accounted for about 13% of AngloGold’s production that year.
AngloGold said last week that it plans to provide an update on the asset sale on February 21. In November, AngloGold narrowed the list of bidders for its South African assets to Harmony and Sibanye Gold, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
The strategic rationale to find a buyer “trumps a straight valuation call” for the operations, said James Bell, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in London. AngloGold needs to sell the assets before it can move its primary listing from Johannesburg to London, “something that we think could drive a material re-rating in time.”
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
