Ashanti Goldfields Corporation

The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. The mine is sited on one of the world's major gold deposits and is one of the ten largest in the world.

In 1994, the Ghana government, the majority shareholder, announced plans to sell 20-25 percent of its interest in AGC in a share flotation. The company was listed on the London and Ghana stock exchanges. It was the largest flotation ever organised by any gold mining company coordinating and advisory team alone numbered over 200 people. Each of the company's 10,000 employees received five free shares.

In 1996 AGC was listed on the New York Stock Exchange to raise new capital, it was the first African company to appear on Wall Street. In 1999, the company succumbed to an ill-executed gold price hedge led by Goldman Sachs, which drove it to the brink of bankruptcy.[1]

In 2004, it merged with AngloGold to create the world's second-largest gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti company. AngloGold is based in South Africa and majority-owned by Anglo American group.[2]

Mines & Production

Gold production figures for the company's mines in 2002 and 2003 were (in ounces per annum):[3]

Mine Country 2002 2003
Bibiani Gold Mine Ghana 242,432 212,716
Freda-Rebecca Gold Mine Zimbabwe 98,255 51,091
Geita Gold Mine (50%) Tanzania 289,522 330,523
Iduapriem Gold Mine Ghana 185,199 243,533
Obuasi Gold Mine Ghana 537,219 513,163
Siguiri Gold Mine Guinea 269,292 252,795
Overall Africa 1,621,919 1,603,821
  • Percentage figures behind names indicate the share of production of the mine belonging to Ashanti. Production figures shown are those belonging to Ashanti, not overall production.
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References
  1. "A Hedge Too Fat". Ghana Web. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  2. Completion of merger of Anglogold Limited/Ashanti Goldfields Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine AngloGold Ashanti ASX announcement, published: 27 April 2004, accessed: 10 July 2010
  3. Ashanti Annual Report 2003 Archived 2006-10-24 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 10 August 2010
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