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Friday, 28th July 2006 (4422 views)

Bobby Godsell, the chief executive of mining company AngloGold Ashanti, has spelled out his firm's social commitments.

In an interview with Mineweb, Mr Godsell said: "In every country we operate in – and it's 11 of them – we have to be part of good governance."

He went on to say that his company's growth strategy aimed to offer "increasing prosperity for all", adding: "We have to be concerned about unemployment and poverty."

Mr Godsell also said that gold mining in South Africa is long-term and that Anglo's Moab Khutsong mine gained its first investment from the company in 1991.

The mine is almost 4,000 metres deep and the company is considering deepening it even further. "It's in the interest of the country, the workers, the communities, the foreign exchange, the government and the tax to extend this industry as far as we can," he said.

However, he noted that this would not be done at the expense of safety, saying: "Our concerns are safety and profitability."

Mr Godsell also outlined his company's commitment to black empowerment enterprises (BEE), saying that AngloGold had invested around one billion rand in procurement to BEE.

Tyre Corporation Holdings, Kram Engineering and Langa Lethu Risk Management are three empowerment firms in South Africa that are to benefit from investment from Anglo Zimele, which is an initiative of Anglo American.

 

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