Deals
AngloGold Plans to Sell Last South Africa Mine as Era Closes
- Sale comes as CEO focuses on assets generating higher returns
- Exit from South Africa could close discount on AngloGold stock
Photographer: Naashon Zalk/Bloomberg
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AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. plans to sell its last South African mine, marking the exit of Anglo American Plc and the companies it spawned from the gold industry that created Africa’s biggest economy.
Anglo’s creation in 1917 by Ernest Oppenheimer and the subsequent development of what was for decades the world’s biggest gold industry underpinned the development of South Africa into the continent’s preeminent economy. Its retreat from the industry, which has become expensive and dangerous as mines extended miles underground, began in 1998 when Anglo merged its separate gold subsidiaries to create AngloGold Ltd.