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AngloGold Ashanti to officially pour first gold from reopened Obuasi Mine

By PrimeNewsGhana
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AngloGold Ashanti is to pour its first gold from the Obuasi Mine on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, a year after resuming operations.

The mining company had shut down its operations for about four years due to the invasion of its concession by illegal miners. Obuasi has had a troubled history ever since AngloGold acquired the mine in 2003 when it took over Ashanti Goldfields to create the current AngloGold Ashanti group.

The government intervened leading to a reopening of the mine site on January 22, 2019.

The redevelopment project is scheduled to take approximately 30 months to deliver, with an approximately 22-year life of mine to produce four hundred thousand ounces of gold per annum.

AngloGold Ashanti injected an initial amount of 881 million dollars to revamp the mining concession.

This is expected to be increased to 1.6 billion dollars for the twenty-two year period of the lifespan of the mine.

READ ALSO: AngloGold Ashanti posts strong Q2 results

The government is expected to rake in 2.16 billion dollars in revenue over the 22-year period in royalties and withholding tax.

In June 2019, the mining giant announced a plan to recruit about 2,500 workers when it resumes full-scale operations at its Obuasi mine.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Eric Asubonteng, made this known at a Town Hall meeting organized by the mining giant with stakeholders in Obuasi.

The initial project capital cost for Obuasi remains “in a range of $495m to $545m spent between 2018 to the end of 2020.”

Credit: Citinewsroom