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AngloGold shares were down 2,6 percent by 0800 GMT, at their lowest level since mid-December.
Like other miners, AngloGold has been improving waste storage facilities after breaches in recent years killed hundreds of people in Brazil and elsewhere, prompting the development of a new international standard on dam safety.
Johannesburg-based AngloGold said production excluding Cuiaba – where the processing plant is being suspended – is expected between 2,45 million ounces and 2,6 million ounces of gold in 2023.
The miner said it had temporarily stopped adding mine waste to its Calcinados tailings storage dam in Cuiaba, Brazil, to bring the dam in line with a Canadian safety standard it said was best practice in the industry.
“Tailings dams are something that we all agree cannot fail, period,” Chief Executive Officer Alberto Calderon said on a call with reporters. Tailings dams store toxic waste produced when separating minerals from waste rock.
AngloGold expects the Cuiaba mine to produce 180 000 ounces this year, down 25 percent from 2022.
Calderon said he could not yet give a timeline for the engineering work on the dam. The Calcinados dam is safe, stable, and compliant with Brazilian regulations, the company said.
AngloGold’s headline earnings per share for 2022 fell by 12 percent to 129 US cents per share, in the middle of the guidance range the company gave last week.
AngloGold produced 2,742 million ounces in 2022, an 11 percent improvement on the previous year as it managed to keep costs under control despite surging inflation.
The company’s all-in sustaining costs – a measure of the overall cost of mining – increased by 2 percent year over year, while total cash costs per ounce increased by 6 percent. Bloomberg
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