AngloGold's Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan welcomes Obuasi scepticism
AngloGold Ashanti CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan welcomed the scepticism that greeted the company’s decision to invest up to $590m in restarting its troubled Ghanaian Obuasi mine, which will offset output lost with the sale and closure of mines in SA. The news of the mine closures and sale of the big and profitable Moab Khotsong mine to Harmony Gold for $300m cash has been in the market since late last year and barely elicited a comment from analysts attending Tuesday’s results presentation. However, the decision to invest heavily over six years in Obuasi, which was shut in 2014 after years of losses, generated sustained questions and bafflement. Johann Steyn, an analyst with Citi, asked why AngloGold would sell Moab, which is a low-cost, large, profitable mine. "Now you’re going back into a mine that was historically your Achilles heel. It seems like a very high-risk move to sell something that’s extremely profitable and use more than the money you’ve generated in the sale to deplo...
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