AngloGold puts brakes on mine sales after profit surge

Reuters | July 31, 2026 | 10:04 am Top Companies Latin America Gold

AngloGold Ashanti quarterly earnings jump as bullion prices climb

Mponeng is the world’s deepest gold mine. (Image courtesy of AngloGold Ashanti)

AngloGold Ashanti is in no hurry to sell some of its smaller mines because they are generating strong cash flows, CEO Alberto Calderon said on Friday after the company reported a 58% increase in second-quarter profit.

The miner said headline earnings were $1.01 billion in the three months to June 30, up from $639 million a year earlier, as a 35% year-on-year increase in gold prices helped offset the impact of lower production.

AngloGold sold its Brazilian Serra Grande mine in December but has reconsidered plans to sell its Cerro Vanguardia mine in Argentina, Calderon said during a results call.

The company also idled its Corrego do Sitio mine in Brazil in 2023, before the gold price rally, to stem losses.

“At these gold prices, it’s impossible to get the right value because a lot of the offers come like consensus pricing and with very conservative views of the gold price in two or three years,” Calderon said.

No rush

Cerro Vanguardia’s cash flows for this year are about 60% of what AngloGold would have received from selling it, he added.

“So we have no rush to dispose, in the current environment,” Calderon said.

AngloGold’s second-quarter gold production fell by 7% year-on-year to 744,000 ounces following the Serra Grande sale and a 32% drop in gold production at Obuasi mine in Ghana due to safety, operational and equipment challenges.

Although its half-yearly output was 3.7% lower year-on-year at 1.47 million ounces, AngloGold said it expects a stronger second-half performance to achieve its annual production forecast for 2026, of between 2.8 million and 3.17 million ounces.

The increase in the average gold price received drove a 36% jump in second-quarter free cash flow to $727 million.

AngloGold said it would pay a quarterly dividend of 72 cents per share, bringing the total pay-out in the first half of the year to $949 million.

The company has also proposed a $2 billion share buyback, which was approved by shareholders on July 23.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nelson Banya, Editing by Joe Bavier and Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)