“AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the third- biggest producer of the metal, will cut investment in projects this year and may reduce output estimates should labor unrest reawaken in South Africa following a spate of strikes in 2012.
Capital expenditure will decline to $2.1 billion from $2.2 billion in 2012, the company said today in a statement. Gold output, down 17 percent to 859,000 ounces during the fourth quarter because of strikes, may be as much as 950,000 ounces in the three months to March depending on the labor situation. Unrest cut production, reducing profit 29 percent last year.
“In terms of capital and spending disciplines, we tightened up considerably,” said Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani, who is leaving the Johannesburg-based company to replaceCynthia Carroll as CEO of Anglo American Plc on April 3. “Capital numbers are being kept tight and we will continue to trim where we don’t see real short-term uplift.”
Strikes that began at platinum operations in August spread to gold, coal and chrome producers, cutting mining output by 10.1 billion rand ($1.1 billion), according to South Africa’s National Treasury. AngloGold, which digs about a third of its metal in the country, may split off the assets from other mines should investors undervalue the business, Cutifani said Nov. 21.
Adjusted earnings excluding one-time items dropped to $924 million, or $2.39 a share, last year from $1.3 billion, or $3.36, the company said today in a statement. That compares with the $3.03 median estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
