GEITA GOLD MINE

AngloGold Ashanti announced third quarter production rose 5 percent as a result of continued improvements at its Geita mine in Tanzania and fewer safety related interruptions at its Vaal River operations in South Africa.

Announced that a partial slope failure occurred in an intermediate footwall of the Nyankanga pit at Geita Gold Mine on Saturday, 3 February 2007. No injury to employees or contractors occurred and there was no damage to equipment. The part of the slope that failed had been planned to be removed in future cutbacks, with the south-west side of the pit being redesigned, so as to address several fault planes that have been intersected during current mining activity in cutback 4.

Production issues at its Geita open-pit mine in Tanzania, have forced AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third largest gold producer, to downgrade its earlier forecast production target of between 5.8 million and 6 million ounces made in its final quarterly of 2005, reports Mineweb. Cash costs are also seen higher than originally planned. Back in December a figure of between $285/oz to $293/oz was forecast, this figure has since been revised to $301/oz, with Q3 costs expected at $306/oz. "In light of the company’s year-to-date performance and the downward revision of the annual forecast ounces for Geita and Cripple Creek & Victor, the group production outlook for the year currently stands at around 5.7Moz," said the company in its second quarter results announcement on Thursday.