Profits surge for South Africa gold miner AngloGold

AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third-biggest bullion producer, posted a six-fold increase in quarterly earnings on Monday, amid difficult recovery from last year's industrial unrest. The company reported adjusted headline earnings of $113 million in the first quarter of 2013, helped by a slowdown in labour unrest. Earnings rose from $19 million in the last quarter of 2012 and gold production rose to 899,000 ounces from 859,000. The company forecasts second-quarter production at between 900,000 and 950,000 ounces. With $3.4 billion of liquidity headroom, the group said its balance sheet remained robust as South Africa braces for another strike season. AngloGold Ashanti's newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, said focus on productivity and cost would be "especially crucial now, given the recent weakness in the gold price." The company's two key new projects - Tropicana in Australia and Kibali in the DRC - are on schedule to produce by the end of the year adding half-a-million ounces of new production. The Johannesburg-headquartered company has twenty operations on four continents, including Brazil, Ghana and Australia.