AngloGold Ashanti Doubled its Earnings in 2020

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): South Africa-headquartered miner AngloGold Ashanti announced financial and operational results for 2020. The company reported boosted payouts to shareholders, despite drop in overall production and surge in all-in sustaining cost (AISC).

The company reported headline earnings for the full year 2020 at 238 cents per share. This is more than double when matched with the earnings of 91 cents per share reported in 2019. The miner declared a full-year dividend of 7.05 rand per share, which is more than five times the dividend it paid in the prior year, upon translation into U.S. cents.

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The production for 2020 was within its revised guidance issued in September 2020, at 3.047 million ounces at a total cash cost of $819 per ounce. This is down by 7% when compared with the 2019 production of 3.281 million ounces at $776 per ounce. The sale of the remaining producing mines in South Africa, the stoppage of mining activities at Sadiola and Morila mines in Mali, coupled with Covid-19 pandemic impacts resulted in the production decline.

The Covid-19 impact on production is estimated at around 140koz, said the company new release. The pandemic also resulted in over 6% surge in AISC from $998 per ounce in 2019 to $1,059 per ounce in 2020.