Corporate profile

AngloGold Ashanti, a leading global gold mining company, has a varied portfolio of assets which includes surface, open-pit and underground operations in key gold-producing regions around the world. At the end of 2008, the company had 20 operations located in 10 countries (South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ghana, the Republic of Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania and the United States) on four continents, together with a substantial project pipeline and a focused, global exploration programme. Greenfields exploration is currently being conducted in Western Australia, Colombia and the DRC, and the group is involved in exploration partnerships and joint ventures in Russia, China and the Philippines. AngloGold Ashanti’s corporate office is in Johannesburg, South Africa.

AngloGold Ashanti produced 4.98 million ounces of gold in 2008, of which 2.73 million ounces (55%) came from deep-level operations and the balance of 2.25 million ounces (45%) from shallower and surface operations around the world. As at 31 December, the group employed around 62,895 people, compromising 48,580 employees and 14,315 contractors and had Proved and Probable Ore Reserves of 74.9 million ounces of gold. Capital expenditure for the year amounted to some $2 billion.

Guided by values

AngloGold Ashanti remains a values-driven company and its values, the foremost of which is safety, together with the group’s business principles continue to guide the actions of the company, its managers and employees, particularly in respect of sustainable development. These values and principles underpin all that the group does and form the basis of its relationships with others – shareholders, employees, communities, business partners, governments and civil society organisations. In this report, performance is measured against these values and principles, and progress recorded.

Stock exchange information

AngloGold Ashanti’s primary listing is on the JSE (Johannesburg). It is also listed on exchanges in New York, London, Paris and Brussels as well as in Australia and Ghana. AngloGold Ashanti had 277,457,471 ordinary shares in issue and a market capitalisation of $9.7 billion as at 31 December 2008 (31 December 2007: $11.9 billion). At year-end most shareholders’ free float, that is, excluding Anglo American and Government of Ghana positions, were located in the Americas (46%), South Africa (36%), the United Kingdom (9%), Europe (5%) and Asia Pacific/the Middle East (4%).