The Kibali gold operation in Dempcratic Republic of Congo.
A mechanism is in place to repatriate $252-million from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), AngloGold Ashanti CEO Kelvin Dushnisky has said.
The Johannesburg- and New York-listed company drew attention this month to the outstanding cash balances awaiting repatriation from the DRC in a first-quarter market update.
“There’s clearly room to improve our cash conversion. The focus here is on our remaining cash from the DRC, where we have some $252-million still to be repatriated. Importantly, though, we have access to that cash for use at Kibali, if needed,” Dushnisky said during a virtual first-quarter media roundtable.
Kibali is a joint venture (JV) between Barrick (45%), AngloGold Ashanti (45%) and Société Miniére de Kilo-Moto (10%). Barrick is the operator and gained ownership of the mine through the acquisition of Randgold Resources in January 2019.
“In the DRC, we’ve been able to pay dividends regularly, but we’ve had cash that’s been locked in the DRC that we can repatriate. In the DRC, Barrick, our partner, is the operator and they are leading the discussions in the engagement with the government.”