AngloGold Ashanti's Obuasi mine, in Ghana
The operations of AngloGold Ashanti remain conflict-free as of December 31, 2023, the gold miner states in its ‘Conflict-Free Gold Report 2023’ on May 31, emphasising that it extracts gold in a manner that does not fuel conflict.
AngloGold follows guidelines of the World Gold Council’s Conflict-Free Gold Standard at all of the operations where it has direct control, including in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Tanzania, Ghana and Guinea.
The miner says it finds no breaches of any international sanctions at its mines and that none of its mines or transport routes are located in “conflict-affected” or high-risk areas.
Notably, the Kibali mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is managed by joint venture partner Barrick Gold Corporation, is not located in a “conflict-affected” area, despite parts of the DRC being considered as conflict-affected according to the 2022 Heidelberg Institute’s Conflict Barometer.
In Brazil, the Heidelberg Institute has de-escalated the country from “limited war” status to “violent crisis” status, which are both below “conflict-affected” status, but it remains a risky region in terms of ongoing drug trafficking conflict in the country.
This conflict does not directly impact the operations of AngloGold, the company assures, explaining that the threats centre around drug trafficking in the country and are concentrated around major cities.
Despite none of its operations being in conflict-affected areas, AngloGold nonetheless has appropriate management systems in place to identify and mitigate the risk of potential conflict, it assures shareholders.
The company also has processes in place to manage the chain of custody for gold and gold-bearing material, if need be, it adds.