Our enduring legacy in South Africa
In October 2020, our South African operations transitioned to a new future with Harmony Gold. Founded in 1998, with roots reaching back to the development of South Africa’s goldfields, AngloGold Ashanti’s operations have contributed significantly to South Africa’s socio-economic development and its people over the past two decades.
CONTRIBUTING TO
resilient communities
The Company has changed in many ways over its life, however it has consistently held the same values. While AngloGold Ashanti will no longer be operating mines in South Africa, the Company has carefully considered how its legacy can endure, making a positive contribution to resilient communities of former host and labour sending areas.
- Our legacy will provide education:
- through the Educational Scholarship Fund we will provide financial aid to the eligible children of former employees at the South African operations. We will focus on underprivileged schools in communities surrounding the operations and areas from which employees were drawn in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
- Our legacy will support and preserve mining history and heritage:
- through the development of a web application the youth of Merafong, Matlosana and surrounding the areas will be encouraged to honour their heritage and construct their own narratives. They will be empowered to participate in decisions about their future and to create meaningful and satisfying livelihoods. This project will see the promotion of the fourth Industrial Revolution in local schools, where they will create a digital archive of stories. A mine integration centre will be developed, offering a visual representation of our collective history.
- Our legacy will enable collaboration on economic development
- for former mineworker host communities in the Eastern Cape. We are planning initiatives to contribute towards rural development and deliver meaningful household income and food security. This agronomy and animal healthcare initiative seeks to create access to commercial markets for community farmers and improve community livestock yields to unlock economic value. This vision is envisaged to be fulfilled through focused collaboration and strategic partnerships to ensure long-term sustainability of the project.
Reflecting on our South African heritage
- 1998:
- AngloGold was born out of Anglo American’s South African gold and uranium division, and the gold interests Anglo American held in Namibia, Brazil, Argentina and the United States. From the outset, AngloGold was an independently managed Company, although Anglo American retained an initial 51% holding which it sold off over the following decade.
- AngloGold was a forerunner in the establishment of black economic empowerment in the industry through a series of transactions with African Rainbow Minerals, now one of the country’s most successful black-owned mining companies.
- 2002:
- AngloGold became the first Company to offer HIV treatment and anti-retroviral therapy to employees, saving many lives.
- 2004:
- AngloGold Ashanti rose from the business combination with Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. This transaction brought the Ashanti mines in Ghana, Guinea and Tanzania, bringing the remaining 50% of the Geita Gold Mine into the broader group.
- 2006:
- AngloGold Ashanti was the first South African Company to implement a broad-based employee share ownership plan (ESOP), called the Bokamoso Trust. This helped the Company achieve the Mining Charter’s ownership requirements aimed at driving transformation in the industry.