ashanti goldfields corporation
principal competitors: barrick gold corporation; newmont mining corporation; placer dome, inc .
1897: ashanti goldfields corporation, ltd. is incorporated in london and the ashanti mine begins operation .
principal subsidiaries: ashanti goldfields (ayanfuri) limited; ashanti goldfields (bibiani) limited; ghanaian - australian goldfields limited (80 %); societe ashanti goldfields de guinee s. a. (guinea) (85 %); ashanti goldfields tanzania limited (tanzania); ashanti goldfields zimbabwe limited (zimbabwe); ashanti treasury services limited (isle of man) .
the ashanti goldfields corporation is a gold mining company based in ghana that was founded by edwin cade. the ashanti mine, located at obuasi, 56 km .
1985: company receives £159 million loan for expansion from the international finance corporation .
accra, ghana: ashanti goldfields company limited, 1997. barnabas, thondhlana ,
investors warm to ashanti ,
exploration, development and mining of gold. merger between anglogold limited and ashanti goldfields company limited on april 26 2004 .
ashanti goldfields corporation limited archives comprising minutes, correspondence, accounts, staff registers and photographs. please note that the white staff agreement registers, 1897 - 2001 (ms 35350) contain sensitive personal information and are closed for 75 years .
the blame for the decline in ghana' s gold production, officials here say, goes to a series of moves by the post - independence government that discouraged investment and starved the ashanti goldfields corporation of the hard foreign currencies needed to buy new equipment .
ashanti goldfields corporation ltd was incorporated in may 1897 as a company to work the concession acquired by edwin cade in 1895. a small company, the cote d' or company, had been established to provide funds for an expedition by cade to ashanti, during which he had signed an agreement with local chiefs and had secured the concession to mine for gold. in 1896 ashanti had been annexed by the british government and negotiations secured agreement whereby the concession to mining, trading and agricultural rights over a square mile area was recognised by the government for 90 years, and the ashanti goldfields corporation ltd was registered .
gold production figures for the company' s mines since 2004 in ounces. iduapriem, ghana, 125, 000, 174, 000, 167, 000, 167, 000, 200, 000, 190, 000. belonged to ashanti goldfields corporation before the merger .
the siguiri mine is anglogold ashanti’s only operation in the republic of guinea. formerly an asset of ghanaian based ashanti goldfields, it became part of anglogold ashanti in april 2004 when the business combination of ashanti and south african - based anglogold came into effect .
a $ 160 million rehabilitation program for the ashanti goldfields mines is expected to raise production to 500, 000 ounces by the early 1990' s .
ashanti goldfields corporation was formed in 1897 and started operations at obuasi, in ghana (formerly known as the gold coast). it was the birth of an enterprise which, over 100 years produced us $ 10 billion dollars' worth of gold if it were all valued at today' s price .
august 1995, p. 4. picker, ida ,
sam jonah of ashanti goldfields co. : a glittering success story in sub - saharan africa ,
this paper deals with the strategy adopted for expanding production at ashanti goldfields corporation (ghana) limited. the history of the performance of the mine in recent times is traced. this includes how the mine survived during an extremely difficult period of the country’s economic development. the mine went through phases of decline, consolidation, recovery and subsequently into a phased expansion programme .
anglogold ashanti, as it conducts business today, was formed on april 26, 2004 following the business combination of anglogold limited (anglogold) with ashanti goldfields company limited (ashanti). anglogold, formerly vaal reefs exploration and mining company limited, was incorporated in south africa in 1944 .
ashanti is also negotiating with the international finance corporation for a three - year, $ 25 million loan to develop gold fields at sansu. the project would yield 100, 000 ounces a year by 1992, mr. jonah predicted .
the business combination between anglogold and ashanti goldfields company limited which was originally announced on may 16, 2003 was completed with effect from monday, april 26, 2004, following the confirmation by the high court in ghana .
ashanti goldfields limited is located in gold house, patrice lumumba road, ghana. company is working in mining business activities. visit our company website for more information about us: urltoken if you have any questions, please contact us
anglogold ashanti’s operations in the australasian region, sunrise dam and tropicana, are located in the northeastern goldfields of the state of western australia. the region produced 520 000oz of gold in 2016, which accounts for 14% of the group’s total gold production .
obuasi is located in the ashanti region of southern ghana, approximately 80km south. ashanti updates on rapidly deteriorating situation at obuasi gold mine .
this year the southern cross mining company of australia started working an open pit mine in konongo that produces 3, 000 ounces of gold a month. the company is a joint venture between ghana' s state gold mining corporation and australia' s northern queensland mining .
anglo platinum vacancies, anglogold ashanti ghana vacancies, anglo. anglogold ashanti is the third largest gold mining company in the world, measured by .
the operations are located in the ashanti and western regions of ghana, and were. the iduapriem gold mine, wholly owned by anglogold ashanti since .
anglogold ashanti partners rangold to revamp obuasi mines. of a joint venture to redevelop and operate anglogold ashanti' s obuasi gold mine. . obuasi, located in the ashanti region of ghana 320 kilometres northwest of the capital .
on june 11, 1897, cade listed the ashanti goldfields corporation ltd. on the london stock exchange and set up operations at obuasi on december 24 of that same year. the technique of adit mining—wherein a horizontal passage is dug from the earth' s surface into the mine—proscribed by mining engineer john daw tapped into the most immediately accessible ore in the hills around obuasi and yielded initially impressive results. the obuasi mine yielded 2, 544 ounces of gold in its first year of operation and 4, 673 ounces the second year. this early success, coupled with the devastation of the south african gold trade during the boer war (1899 - 1902), fed ashanti' s rapid growth that continued until the uprising of the ashanti people against british rule in 1900 .
by far the largest investments in gold mining in ghana have taken place here at ashanti goldfields, a company owned 55 percent by the ghanaian government and 45 percent by the british multinational giant lonrho p. l. c. the largest employer in ghana after the government, ashanti has 12, 000 employees, a 100 - square - mile concession and a 1988 production of 305, 500 ounces .
and a canadian - dutch joint venture plans to raise $ 67. 5 million to develop 924, 000 ounces of proven reserves at bogosu. the partners in canadian bogosu resources are sikaman gold resources of canada, billiton international metals of the netherlands, the ghana government and the international finance corporation, an arm of the world bank that lends to private enterprise. ashanti' s big investments
edikan gold mine. (
egm
, formerly central ashanti gold project, ayanfuri). highlights: 480km² of tenements centred on the ashanti gold belt, 25km 65km from .
june 22, 2018 - anglogold ashanti says ghana parliament ratifies obuasi agreements (126. 1k )
anglogold ashanti is the third - largest gold mining company in the world, measured by production .
anglogold ashanti has an interest of 85% in siguiri and the government of guinea 15% .
for in this game the barbarians are at the gate. no one individual is bigger than ashanti, and as a company and for the sake of shareholders and the people of ghana, ashanti deserves better .
the lonrho years were marked by turmoil. violence between police and miners at the march 1969 strike killed three and wounded 28, and another strike in 1970 closed the mine for a week. a coup in 1972 once again forced a change in government, and the new administration, led by ignatius archeampong, demanded government
participation
in all mining companies and acquired 55 percent of ashanti shares. the company was ordered to change its name to the ashanti goldfields company and relocate its headquarters to accra from london .
in another american project scheduled to start next year, teberebie goldfields ltd. will invest $ 28. 5 million in a concession in tarkwa. the company, which is controlled by the pioneer group of boston, hopes to produce 60, 000 ounces a year by 1990.' the gold coast is good'
july 05, 2018 - anglogold ashanti sees significant step change improvement at sunrise dam (352. 9k )
edwin cade and john daw were members of the first expedition to work the concession and both were important figures in the early development of the corporation, the former as a director until his death in 1903, the latter as consultant engineer, general manager, and eventually director until 1906. in 1972 lonrho acquired an interest in the company which became jointly owned by them and the ghanian government until 1996. in 2000 the company entered into a strategic alliance with anglogold which resulted in merger in 2004. the new company is called anglogold ashanti and continues to mine in ghana. the corporation had offices at 9 broad street in 1900; 6 southampton street 1902 - 1935; 10 old jewry 1936 - 1963; moor house, london wall 1964 - 1970; cheapside house, 138 cheapside from 1971; and roman house, wood street from 1996. in 2004, the company closed its london offices .
anglogold was formed in june 1998 through the consolidation of the gold interests of anglo american corporation of south africa limited (aac) and its associated companies into a single, focused, independent, global gold company. vaal reefs exploration and mining company limited (vaal reefs), the vehicle for the consolidation, changed its name to anglogold limited and increased its authorized share capital, effective march 30, 1998 .
ashanti' s mission is to build an african gold mining and exploration company to international standards of excellence, managed predominantly by africans. ashanti aims to pursue growth for the benefit of our shareholders, employees and the nations where we operate .
'' vital spares and supplies needed to sustain production could not be obtained,'' said sam e. jonah, ghanaian managing director of the ashanti goldfields mining operation here, the source of 90 percent of ghana' s gold.'' i vividly recall instances when the only way we could quickly obtain certain vital supplies was to trade on a barter basis with other local mines,'' he said at the opening of the new mine shaft here in february .
anglogold ashanti: a leading global gold producer operating in 11 countries and listed on five stock exchanges, including the nyse .
apr 9, 2017. mining giant anglogold ashanti is planning to recruit about 2000 workers. a public hearing on the proposed obuasi gold mine redevelopment and. anglogold ashanti ghana in 2014 laid off 4, 300 of its workers as part of .
the bip process has been branded as anglogold ashanti “one“emphasising the unity of purpose and sense of belonging the bip aims to achieve .
the rich goldfields in the ashanti region of what is now ghana were controlled by the powerful asante (ashanti) state as far back as the 17 th century. the british colonization of ghana in 1874 and the ensuing ashanti wars brought a large number of europeans to the area, and soldiers and travelers spread the word about the region' s legendary gold reserves—
you could pick up gold as you would potatoes ,
reported one traveler. widespread interest opened the region for large - scale commercial gold production. in 1890, joseph e. ellis and chief joseph e. biney, fatwe merchants from africa' s cape coast, and their accountant joseph p. brown negotiated mining concessions for 100 square miles in the obuasi district. there they opened the ellis mine and introduced modern industrial mining techniques to the area. the ellis mine operated for five years, then the partners sold the concession to edwin arthur smith of the london - based firm smith and cade. with the overthrow of the ashanti king in 1896, the ashanti protectorate was brought directly under british control, and cade was given approval to mine the region .
ghana. company perspectives: ashanti' s mission is to build an african gold mining and exploration company to international standards of excellence, managed .
'' it' s the first new gold mine in ghana since the 1930' s,'' said mr. jonah of ashanti .
over a century after its incorporation, ashanti goldfields company limited of accra, ghana, remains one of the largest producers of gold in the world, achieving an annual gold production of 1. 74 million ounces in 2000. it is also ghana' s largest earner of foreign funds and the only mining operation on the new york and london stock exchanges run by black africans. originally operating with a single mine—the obuasi mine in ghana' s ashanti region that gives the company its name—ashanti has in recent years expanded aggressively throughout africa and now operates seven mines in ghana, zimbabwe, guinea, and tanzania. the company also maintains 25 active exploration projects in six african countries and about 20 outside the continent. ashanti' s most productive mine is obuasi, which, despite over 100 years of continuous operation, is still one of the top - producing mines in the world and the largest mine in africa outside south africa. conscious of its success on an often volatile and troubled continent, ashanti prides itself in its relationships with local authorities and traditional political and social institutions in the african countries where it operates. the company has assisted local communities with infrastructure projects such as roadways, water and electricity access, and education .
jan 10, 2009. the iduapriem gold mine is owned by anglo gold ashanti, the second largest gold mining company worldwide, based in south africa .
during spears' leadership, the government of ghana underwent rapid changes. in 1957, the british parliament granted ghana its independence, and kwame nkrumah became the country' s first prime minister. in 1960, a new constitution was drafted, and the country became the republic of ghana, with nkrumah as its president. nkrumah proved to be an increasingly dictatorial leader, limiting freedom of action, imprisoning his critics, and finally introducing a one - party system in 1964. he nationalized five of ghana' s six producing gold mines (all but ashanti), and granted spears favorable land leases for ashanti in exchange for derisory royalties. nkrumah was deposed by the national liberation council (nlc) in 1966. the nlc soon began to question the contribution of mining operations such as ashanti to the local economy and appeared to threaten the favorable land lease options spears had enjoyed under nkrumah. in response, spears threatened to flood the mines. the ghanaian government then ordered the commissioner of mines and energy to seek new investors for its mining industry, including the ashanti goldfields .
aug 31, 2016. two years after anglogold ashanti suspended production at its giant but loss making gold mine in obuasi, central ghana, the boom of .
dec 3, 2014. anglogold ashanti, one of the largest companies in the gold mining industry, has chosen veolia to optimize, operate and maintain the water .
anglogold ashanti is the third largest gold mining company in the world, measured by production. it has 17 gold mines in 9 countries, as well as exploration .
ashanti in 1998 had produced 1. 7 million ounces of gold and this was in recent years predicted to reach high of 2 million ounces of gold when its new geita mine in tanzania came on stream. the fall in the price of gold forced ashanti to reign back its expansion plans. the main reason being ashanti had made acquisition for debt rather than equity. aware of this financial situation, and the potential associated liquidity problems, ashanti had sought to strengthen its finances through a merger with another gold mining group. thus on 5 october, lonmin (a rump of the former lonhro group) and ashanti confirmed that they were in merger talks. lonmin at that stage already owned 32% of ashanti. as to whether this was a merger or a take - over was open to questioning. reports had indicated that the two companies had been in discussion for some time, and lonmin was yet to decide whether to make ashanti a merger offer. fred ohene - kena then minister for mines and energy commenting on the lonmin merger had stated
such a merger will enable agc to become a major entity and have a competitive edge over other mining companies
.
2017 07 31 armed police and military personnel to crush illegal miners today. ghana' s $ 57m shares in anglogold ashanti; 2017 07 10 asante gold to start .
anglogold ashanti is a global gold mining company with 14 mines and 3 exploration projects in four different regions namely – south africa, continental africa, australasia, and the americas .
our current focus is ghana, west africa where w. kubi adjoins to the south of anglogold ashanti' s 66 million ounce * obuasi gold mine concessions, one of .
the obuasi gold mine is an open pit and underground gold mine situated near obuasi, in the ashanti region of ghana. it is one of the top 9 largest gold mines .
william hussey, ashanti' s british general mines manager, said,'' the only foreign exchange available was for salaries and operating costs - not for capital costs.''
ticker symbol: asl (new york); asn (london); agc (ghana); ashanti (zimbabwe); aha (australia); ahd. u (toronto )
anglogold ashanti’s south african region assets include the mponeng underground gold mine, and two surface operations comprising the mine waste solutions tailings dump - retreatment business and the rock dump reclamation and processing business .
with this fresh infusion of capital, ashanti was ready for an ambitious program of expansion and modernization. in 1986, the company' s first ghanaian ceo, sam jonah, was appointed. he embarked on a major overhaul of company operations. while the company' s headquarters had been in accra for twelve years, much of the planning and budgeting was still carried out by consultants in the london office. jonah transferred these duties to ghana, keeping the staff geographically close to the mine site. communications between management and line workers was improved, wages for mine workers were raised, and the company began the community renewal plan that is now a hallmark of all its operations throughout africa. ashanti purchased new equipment for mining surface oxides and commissioned a heap leach (a low - cost method of extracting ores) facility in 1990, and the company built an oxide treatment plant in 1991. this project established the obuasi mine as the largest surface mining operation in africa and the mine as a whole became one of the top five in the world. gold production reached record highs, increasing by 25 percent. loans from the international finance corporation (ifc) helped the company launch its ashanti mines expansion program, allowing it to take advantage of highly profitable, lower grade underground gold resources .
sep 1, 2016. the miners earn up to $ 2600 on a good month. . africa' s top gold producer, anglogold ashanti, closed shop two years ago and with it went .
after the war, ashanti saw a yearly increase in gold output. significant discoveries in 1937 of gold along the obuasi fissure and other locations gave rise to a time of great optimism at ashanti. the company made plans for major expansions and budgeted for increased output. these plans were cut short by the dawn of world war ii, which had a disastrous effect on the entire african gold mining industry. most mines in the gold coast region were shut down for the duration of the war, but a few profitable operations—including ashanti—were kept open on a
care and maintenance
basis, making do with aging and obsolete equipment .
fortunately, lonrho (london and rhodesia mining and land company—now lonmin) already had an interest in acquiring the company, and the government quickly welcomed the takeover. lonrho acquired ashanti in 1968 for £3 million (us $ 2. 1 million) in stock, promising to preserve ashanti as a separate entity. ashanti was delisted from the london stock exchange, and lonrho offered the ghanaian government a 20 percent interest in the company in exchange for a 50 - year extension on its land leases. the government would also have an option to buy another 20 percent of the company for £1 (us $. 70) per share. in response to the sentiment in ghana that ashanti had not been growing quickly enough to meet the country' s currency needs, lonrho also promised to increase the mine capacity from 45, 000 to 80, 000 tons of ore per month. spears was invited to join the lonrho board. he retained the title of chairman, but, after expressing much dissatisfaction with the increased government involvement with ashanti, resigned in 1971 .
thus, from the point of view of the ashanti board, the rise in the price of gold was to come at a rather unfortunate time. the gold price rise and ashantis' precarious situation was to result in a serious adverse effect in its stock price. this is because ashanti did not have the liquidty to meet its margin calls and as a result sent a negative view about the firm amongst investors. the rally in gold resulted in a 50per - cent decline in ashanti' s' stock value. the stock price was to fall from $ 8. 50 (a market capitalization of $ 890 million) to $ 4. 62. the stock continued to plunge to a 12 - month low of $ 3 on 6 october 1999 from an annual peak of $ 10. 69 in january 1999. ashanti at this stage had been completely wrong footed and was ripe for a take over. by far the largest quoted company in ghana, ashanti found itself in a financial debacle of enormous proportions after placing bets on the direction of gold prices. ashanti had overstepped the delicate balance of using derivatives as a risk management tool and speculating with shareholders capital. the firm had hedged more than it was ever capable of producing for the duration the hedge deal .
escalating mining costs, an uncertain gold price and the need to expand production in order to assist with ghana’s balance of payments problems (exacerbated by depressed cocoa prices), dictated a major change in direction for ashanti .
it took another governmental shift to turn the company' s fortunes around. in 1981, the provisional national defence council, led by jerry rawlings, took control. at first, the new government' s socialist ideology seemed to spell even more trouble for the ashanti. but by 1983, the government realized that outside capital would be needed to achieve its goal of rebuilding ghana' s economy, so the political stance shifted to welcome a more free - market philosophy. its economic recovery program, backed by the international monetary fund (imf), the world bank, and western aid donors aimed to rehabilitate ghana' s major export earners, and ashanti was one of its major beneficiaries. in 1985, ashanti was granted a £159 million (us $ 111 million) imf loan, and the new minerals and mining law allowed ashanti to keep 45 percent of its export earnings .
a new mine shaft that sinks a half - mile below the ashanti hills here and incentives for foreign investors are part of this nation' s drive to recapture its one - time glory as africa' s gold coast .
ashanti with reserves of 23 million ounces was in theory supposed to benefit from this price increase. however, this was not the case. the rise in the gold price put a negative value of $ 450 million on its derivative hedge book “contracts the company has entered into to reduce its exposure to a falling gold price” of a net 11 million ounces. gold market participants questioned why ashanti had hedged such an unusually high proportion of its total reserves. the negative value of $ 450 million on ashantis' hedge book meant that its 17 hedgebook counterparties (banks with which ashanti transacted its derivative business) could call margin deposits of $ 150 million. further increases in the price of gold, could result in even larger deposits being called. if the counter parties where to decline to call margin and allowed the contracts to run to maturity, ashanti could satisfy them with physical gold it had mined .
the continental africa region comprises seven mines, of which six are operational. of these, anglogold ashanti manages four mines. in ghana, the company has two mines, iduapriem and obuasi, with obuasi currently on care and maintenance .
the end of world war ii saw a short surge in the african gold industry (often referred to as the
jungle boom
), but that growth was short - lived. the industry had been cut off from foreign investment since 1942, and many mines that had opened shortly after the war found that they could not sustain themselves, and quickly closed. ashanti was one of only four operations on the gold coast that remained open during this time and was the largest and most profitable. at this time, ashanti was led by its autocratic chairman general sir edward spears, who lived abroad and visited the company' s operations only infrequently, treating it, according to ashanti' s company history, as
a personal fiefdom .
anglogold ashanti operates guinea' s biggest gold mine at siguiri in the northeast, where it produced 332, 000 ounces of gold in 2008; crew gold produced 189, 520 ounces in 2008; and semafo produced 51, 700 ounces in 2008 .
its problems where essentially due to its speculative hedging activity, which i am share holders where not aware of and the resulting cash flow issues. however since it had been completely wrong footed, it was liable for a take - over. john hathaway of tocqville asset management stated (in a report) that
as of june 30 ashanti goldfields was hedged 11 million ounces of production 50 percent of its reserves. according to hathaway using
conservative assumption
the value of hedged book was $ 290 million. however, the asset would become worthless
if gold traded at $ 325; at $ 330, the company would begin to face margin calls
. hathaway wrote
the ashanti hedgebook is a bet that the gold market would will remain quiescent and trouble free. ashantis' sanguine view of the market is not unusual. few in the industry are prepared to hope for a spike in the gold price, especially one which does not retrace
. well as events turned out hathaway was not too far from the truth. as at 8 october 1999, the ashanti hedgebook partly designed to protect profits resuting from a decline in the price of gold and partly as an alternative source of profits which i hasten to add is not the reason for hedging, had a negative value of $ 570 million at a gold price of $ 325 per ounce. with this negative value of $ 570m, ashantis' bankers had the right to request cash deposits of $ 270 million as variation margin on the derivative contracts .
anglogold ashanti had mineral resources of 241. 0 million ounces and ore reserves of 74. 9 million ounces at 31 december 2008. of these, guinea accounted for mineral resources of 5. 94 million ounces and ore reserves of 3. 25 million ounces .
as part of their
participation
in ashanti' s operations, the government appointed lloyd a. k. quashie, a geologist and mining expert, to ashanti' s board of directors as deputy managing director. under his direction, the company began efforts to improve conditions for local workers, and instituted a program to decrease the percentage of
expatriate positions
—positions held by non - africans. the program sent
promising young ghanaians
to universities abroad, with the idea that they would return to work for the company, supplanting the expatriates. one of the first recipients of these educational opportunities was sam e. jonah, who attended exeter' s camborne school of mines in cornwall, england, and the imperial college of science and technology in london and later became the ceo of ashanti .
cutifani emphasises that the bip is not a once - off activity: it’s an ongoing journey to ensure the continuing global improvement of anglogold ashanti’s systems and processes. it is intrinsically linked to anglogold ashanti’s mission, vision and values which shape everything that the company does. the business improvement project focuses on five key deliverables: a 70% reduction in safety incidents; a 30% improvement in productivity; a 60% reduction in reportable environmental incidents; a 25% reduction in operating costs; and a 15% return on investment to shareholders .
under feldtmann, ashanti underwent a period where output was slowed to allow for a change in mining techniques. shallow adit mining was discontinued in favor of shaft mining in which a vertical tunnel is dug deep into the ground. to accommodate these new techniques, the company' s profits were directed into new equipment. feldtmann also developed more efficient methods of treating gold ore once it was mined. the discovery of an exceptionally rich ore deposit in 1908 brought fruit to feldtmann' s efforts, and ashanti' s success increased until the advent of world war i forced cutbacks in operations .
in april 2009 the leader of the junta, moussa camara, threatened to close gold mines owned by anglogold ashanti ltd. and crew gold mines ltd. unless they agree to new regulations including the depositing of the metal with the central bank before it is exported. camara subsequently softened his stance .
at this stage the question to ask is why was ashanti so heavily exposed. hedging is not a new financial phenomenon. it was used by the egyptians before christ to manage risk. most commodity buyers and sellers use various forms of financial instruments as part of their financial strategy to protect or enhance their revenues. generally hedging is a means by which producers lock in to the current price of a commodity in respect to future production. thus by selling forward producers can predetermine their revenue over a specific time period. this process of selling short enabled ashanti to realise profits even when the price of gold was falling. ashanti will have to hedge only a certain amount of its reserves since it will be able to physically deliver the gold when the hedging instrument matured. thus although it will sell its gold at the prevailing market price, it would realise a profit on its hedging activity. the net effect will be that ashanti would have realised the returns it had deemed acceptable as part of its financial strategy when it entered into the derivative contracts. any increase or fall in the price of gold should under these circumstances have not been of concern to ashanti since the net effect would be similar. however, ashantis' hedging strategy was not designed on managing risk. it had crossed the fine line between using derivatives as a risk management tool to using it speculatively. prior hedging activity had provided positive returns to the firm, and it begun to see these as an alternative source of its profits. ashanti was taken positions in the gold derivative markets, which were much larger than actual production for the periods that these positions were open. as to whether it had systems in place which could capture and quantify these risk appropriately as well as the expertise to develops risk models which highlighted the firms worse case scenario is a question only sam jonah and mark keatly his then chief financial officer can answer .
that ashanti after its floatation has performed badly, could be easily explained as being due to the fall in the bullion price. however it has even under performed this benchmark. ashanti after a disastrous management and financial strategy sought to rectify its performance by speculating in gold under the pretext of managing its risk. mr jonah had boasted that his firmed had earned more than $ 600 million dollars from hedging. sam jonah has not only let the shareholders of ashanti down, but also the people of ghana and africa as a whole. he was entrusted with the management of the one of the few african companies listed globally, and he has not only underperformed the bullion price but almost sought to bring the company to its knees through rogue trading. shareholders bought ashantis' stock because they believed the company was prudent and financially sound. however as events have turned out its seems they would have been better of if they had invested their money in high risk gold futures and options. for the sake of ashanti and to set precedence to weak ineffectual managers in ghana and the rest of the emerging world mr sam jonah and mark keatly must go! !. mark keatly has already departed but now we await sam jonah to do the honourable thing. it is not too late .
the impact of the anti - colonial conflict on ashanti was devastating. work was halted, mines became run - down and collapsed due to lack of upkeep. however, the good relations maintained by daw and cade with their local employees ensured the safety of the european staff during the hostilities. after the end of the conflict—despite the arrival of the railway line—ashanti continued to suffer. output did not return to previous levels, leading to shareholder skepticism over daw' s mining techniques. edwin cade died in 1903, leading to a further devaluation of shares. in 1905, an independent assessment of ashanti operations was carried out by chemist w. r. feldtmann and mining engineer j. a. mactear. they criticized daw' s adit mining approach, declaring that the easily reachable ore was nearly exhausted, and that the hills around obuasi did not contain the rich reefs (veins of ore) once believed. daw resigned in 1906, and feldtmann took over as consulting engineer .
ghana' s changed attitude toward foreign participation in gold production was highlighted in february at the inauguration ceremony for the new mine shaft in obuasi, about 80 miles north of the atlantic ocean. costing $ 33. 5 million, the shaft eases access to ore - bearing strata that now account for 40 percent of ashanti' s production .
of all the developments the ashanti has gone through, what has happened to the shares of the fante merchants chief joseph edward biney, joseph etrueson ellis and their accountant j. p. brown. ? these were very instrumental and pioneers who opened the way for ashantis' growth. their names must be eternalised and their houses rehabilitated as befit their status .
a well - publicized crisis at the end of the nineties nearly spelled disaster for the company. the price of gold rose dramatically in september of 1999. the company had outstanding hedge contracts, and the rise in gold price exposed the company to possible margin calls on these contracts. ashanti' s credit lines were frozen. the freeze resulted in a shortfall of capital, which put in danger the completion of the geita mine in tanzania, slated for opening in 2000. ashanti successfully resolved these problems, however, by negotiating a period of margin - free trading and a $ 100 million bridge facility to finance completion of the geita mine. geita opened in august of 2000, three months ahead of schedule, and was the largest gold mine in tanzania .
anglogold ashanti is listed on the following securities exchanges: johannesburg; new york (au) in the form of american depositary shares (adss); australia (agg) in the form of clearing house electronic subregister system depositary interests (cdis); london (ang); paris (va); brussels (ang); and in ghana in the form of ghanaian depositary shares (ghdss) .
recent suggestions by jonah that ashantis stock is under performing because of the governments golden share are baseless and his attributing this to ghana’s attractiveness to foreign investors shows how low this man can stoop to save his own damaged reputation. investors where aware of the governments golden share when they bought the stock at over $ 25, and so was lonmin when it acquired 32% of ashanti. furthermore i find it rather strange that the ghana sfo, failed to bring charges against sam jonah since ashantis speculative activity was not within the remit of the firm. if tsatsu tsikata is on trial today for financial impropriety, then so should sam jonah. they are both guilty of misallocating funds through speculative activity, gold derivatives for jonah and crude oil derivatives for tsikata. sam jonah through ashanti, introduced tsatsu tsikata to j aron the commodities arm of goldman sachs .
anglogold ashanti, headquartered in johannesburg, south africa, is a global gold company with a portfolio of long - life, relatively low - cost assets and differing orebody types in key gold producing regions. the company’s 21 operations comprising open - pit and underground mines and surface metallurgical plants are located in ten countries (argentina, australia, brazil, ghana, guinea, mali, namibia, south africa, tanzania and the united states of america), and are supported by extensive exploration activities .
despite the turbulent times, ashanti continued to prosper, reaching a peak production level of 533, 000 ounces in 1972. unfortunately, by that time, many ore deposits had been exhausted. this depletion, combined with the loss of foreign exchange and a high tax bill led to another decline through the seventies. the company was unable to expand its interests, invest in new plants, or even replace outdated equipment. annual production fell to 232, 000 ounces in 1980. profits continued to fall, and in 1982, the company experienced the first operating loss in its history .
towards the end of 2008, ceo mark cutifani announced the launch of the business improvement project (bip), a company - wide change management process to secure the future of the organisation as a global gold producer. the bip is a response to declining production levels, and increasing costs of production - and it signals the need for a change in the current strategy in order for anglogold ashanti to grow and thrive. it will be implemented over the next three to five years, starting with pilot sites and then across the company’s global operations, with the aim of improving productivity .
in 2008, anglogold ashanti produced 4. 98 million ounces of gold from its operations - an estimated 7% of global production - making it the third largest producer in the world. the bulk of its production came from deep - level underground operations (40 %) and surface operations (2 %) in south africa. contributions from other countries were ghana (11 %), mali (8 %), australia (9 %), brazil (8 %), tanzania (6 %), usa (5 %), guinea (7 %), argentina (3 %) and namibia (1 %) .
ashanti reported a gold production of 1. 74 million ounces for the year 2000—a record for the company, despite its recent difficulties and the cessation of surface mining operations at obuasi. in 2001, the company' s future plans included further expansion in africa, including operations in the ivory coast and the congo. in his remarks at the indaba conference in cape town, south africa, in february 2001, jonah acknowledged the difficulties of the past and expressed pride in the company' s recovery .
we were able to keep focus, despite some particularly choppy waters ,
he said .
and i am confident we can continue to do so as we train our eyes further out into the future .
mr. sam jonah the chief executive of ashanti referring to the financial debacle that hit the mining group stated
i am prepared to concede that that we were reckless. we took a bet on the price of gold. we thought that it would go down and we took a position
. this we are sorry to say was not a good enough explanation and more of a display of shear arrogance. the firm went through a mauling only to escape battered and bruised by not only the markets but also the firms bankers led by goldman sachs. had mr. jonah been the chief executive of a japanese listed company, he would have done the honorable thing and handed in his resignation letter in tears! my intention in is to explain why this should have been his response .
several explanations have been put forward for this state of affairs. it is argued that sam jonah and mark keatly did not understand the nature of the derivative instruments they had entered into. this is an unlikely explanation because it was reported that mr keatly had boasted about having taught the investment bankers all they had to know about derivatives. for someone to make such a statement he must have known a fair bit about the instruments even if not their mechanics. another explanation was that put forward by mr jonah himself that
. this has more to do with our address than our fundamentals, or the strength of our management
. this excuse is not credible because ashanti when agreeing and signing its derivative contracts would have agreed to the margin terms which were based on a credit assessment of the firm by its counterparts .
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in the last week of september 1999, the price of gold jumped by $ 11 to $ 281. 10 per ounce in london. this was after 15 european central banks gave a surprise announcement on sunday 26 september 1999 to curtail the sale of gold from their official reserves for five years. this decision had come in response to the sharp fall in the price of gold since the uk treasury had decided in may 1999 to sell 415 tonnes from its reserves. the decision not to sell was welcomed within gold mining circles. a rise in gold' s price it was argued will help gold mine operators hit hard by the collapse of the bullion price earlier that year. the bullion price as at 29 september 1999 was $ 281 per ounce nearly $ 30 higher than it was in august when it had reached its lowest for 20 years at $ 252. the price of gold was to surge to a new high amid volatile trading conditions. on 6 october, the price was fixed at $ 362. 25 per ounce in the morning, before sliding back to $ 325. 50 at the afternoon fix. this unexpected rise in the price of gold resulted in an increase in the long - term value of most mining companies .
however, ashantis' balance sheet was excessively stretched. it had over the last 5 years embarked upon a substantial capital expansion program. the firm had sought to turn itself into a pan - african gold producer having acquired mines in ghana, guinea and zimbabwe .
for too long weak management in ghana from the state to heads of institutions have used external factors to cover their inefficiencies. in most circumstances the workers have been made to bare the brunt of the results of ineffective management .
the time has come for the people of ghana to exercise their sovereign rights through their elected government. the government should not allow its desire to promote private business be abused by opportunist like sam jonah who seek to [ our gold dust in its eyes .
gold is our countries highest earner and we should be careful not to loose control of this asset. the ghana government should seek to ensure it keeps a keen eye on the management of these firms. in short the government should not be passive in the event of such financial scandals. the recent example at enron and the role of ken lay has laid bare the fact that corporate big wigs far all their schmoozing are dangerous and should be watched closely .
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july 05, 2018 - replay: geological and operational update of the sunrise dam mine (415. 7k )
anglogold posts strong full - year operating result and improved guidance for 2018 (241. 8k )
our sustainability strategy is intertwined with people, politics, the planet and the economy .
we acknowledge an increasing complexity in our operating environments, with heightened expectations for business to contribute meaningfully to social, economic and environmental development and protection .
our business values and beliefs guide our behaviour, in order that we make a positive impact. these behaviours and beliefs link our business activities to our social performance .
the company is governed by a unitary board of directors, the composition of which promotes the balance of power and of authority and precludes any one director from dominating decision - making .
good corporate governance is an integral part of the group’s sustainability. adherence to the standards and recommendations set out in the king iii report and other relevant laws and regulations is vital to achieving our strategic priorities .
the americas region has three mining operations – featuring open pit and underground mining – in the americas region. in addition, an active greenfields exploration programme is underway in colombia .
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1906: w. r. feldtmann becomes consulting engineer and reforms mining techniques .
1966: the new national liberation council orders search for new investors for company .
june 14, 2000, p. 6. ayensu, edward s. ,
july / august 1997, p. 28. bowman, louise ,
pits - tops ,
august 14, 2000. winfred, arthur, jr. , dennis doverspike, and james e. kuthy ,
striking gold through a deep - level organizational intervention in ghana' s mining industry ,
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the ashanti goldfields corporation is a gold mining company based in ghana that was founded by edwin cade . the ashanti mine , located at obuasi , 56 km south of kumasi , has been producing since 1897 . the mine is sited on one of the world 's major gold deposits and is one of the ten largest in the world . in 1994 , the ghana government , the majority shareholder , announced plans to sell 20-25 percent of its interest in agc in a share flotation . the company was listed on the london and ghana stock exchanges . it was the largest flotation ever organised by any gold mining company coordinating and advisory team alone numbered over 200 people . each of the company 's 10,000 employees received five free shares . in 1996 agc was listed on the new york stock exchange to raise new capital , it was the first african company to appear on wall street . in 1999 , the company succumbed to an ill-executed gold price hedge led by goldman sachs , which drove it to the brink of bankruptcy . in 2004 , it merged with anglogold to create the world 's second-largest gold producer , anglogold ashanti company . anglogold is based in south africa and majority-owned by anglo american group . 
the ashanti goldfields corporation is a gold mining company based in ghana that was founded by edwin cade. the ashanti mine, located at obuasi, 56 km south of kumasi, has been producing since 1897. the mine is sited on one of the world's major gold deposits and is one of the ten largest in the world. in 1994, the ghana government, the majority shareholder, announced plans to sell 20-25 percent of its interest in agc in a share flotation. the company was listed on the london and ghana stock exchanges. it was the largest flotation ever organised by any gold mining company coordinating and advisory team alone numbered over 200 people. each of the company's 10,000 employees received five free shares. in 1996 agc was listed on the new york stock exchange to raise new capital, it was the first african company to appear on wall street. in 1999, the company succumbed to an ill-executed gold price hedge led by goldman sachs, which drove it to the brink of bankruptcy. in 2004, it merged with anglogold to create the world's second-largest gold producer, anglogold ashanti company. anglogold is based in south africa and majority-owned by anglo american group.
the ashanti goldfields corporation is a gold mining company based in ghana that was founded by edwin cade. the ashanti mine, located at obuasi, 56 km south of kumasi, has been producing since 1897. the mine is sited on one of the world's major gold deposits and is one of the ten largest in the world. in 1994, the ghana government, the majority shareholder, announced plans to sell 20-25 percent of its interest in agc in a share flotation. the company was listed on the london and ghana stock exchanges. it was the largest flotation ever organised by any gold mining company coordinating and advisory team alone numbered over 200 people. each of the company's 10,000 employees received five free shares. in 1996 agc was listed on the new york stock exchange to raise new capital, it was the first african company to appear on wall street. in 1999, the company succumbed to an ill-executed gold price hedge led by goldman sachs, which drove it to the brink of bankruptcy. in 2004, it merged with anglogold to create the world's second-largest gold producer, anglogold ashanti company. anglogold is based in south africa and majority-owned by anglo american group.