AngloGold to axe 2,000 top jobs as metal price falls

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) (JSE:ANG), the world’s No. 3 gold producer, will cut close to 2,000 management jobs, or about 40% of its management positions, to reduce costs, its new CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said on Wednesday.

The South African miner, which posted a $2.2bn quarterly loss after a $2.4bn post-tax charge on its assets in response to the historic fall in gold prices, said job cuts are part of a larger plan aimed at saving the company as much as $482 million next year.

The company will cut capital expenditure at 21 of its operations in 10 countries, as well as slowing output at higher-cost mines as it adjusts to a gold price that has dropped almost 25% this year.

AngloGold will also stop exploration activities in more than a dozen countries.

“We have adopted a decisive, two-pronged response to this weaker gold price environment, focused on revenue enhancement and improving efficiencies by addressing costs at a number of levels,” Venkat said in a statement.

He also announced the company won’t pay a quarterly dividend and will return to paying twice a year.

See full results here.

Image: The executioner’s axe, Tower of London, by John Morris via Fickr.

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