Koun Koun prospect, located in Block 3 to the east of the
Siguiri operations, drilling beneath robust gold-in-soil anomalies
has returned ore-grade intercepts in a deeply weathered profile.
In the DRC, AngloGold Ashanti holds an 86.22% interest in
Ashanti Goldfields Kilo (AGK), while the remaining 13.78% is
held by the state-owned gold company SOKIMO. Of the
7,443km
2
previously held under exploitation licences by
SOKIMO, 5,447km
2
has been transferred to AGK under the
terms of an agreement with the government, with 399km
2
pending transfer at the end of the year. Significant progress
was made in regional soil geochemistry programmes that will
provide significant coverage over much of the landholding
during 2012. This, combined with detailed geologic mapping
and structural interpretation, has enabled the ranking and
prioritisation of drill targets. During 2011, a total of 4,009m of
diamond drilling was undertaken, with some encouraging
results. A total of 789 trench samples were taken at a
number of prospects, some of which returned promising
gold grades.
In the Middle East and North Africa, exploration is conducted
through a regional strategic alliance with Dubai based Thani
Investments. Since the inception of the alliance in mid-2009,
significant progress has been made on advancing exploration
projects on the Wadi Kareem and Hodine concessions in
Egypt. The Hutite project, located on the Hodine concession,
is an orogenic gold deposit where the alliance has to date
completed 54 diamond holes for a total of 12,352m. Visible
gold and significant intercepts have been returned from many
of the completed diamond holes. Mineralisation extends over
a strike length greater than 1.6km.
Elsewhere in the region, early stage exploration is conducted
on alliance-held licences in Eritrea. Exploration in partnership
with Stratex International was conducted for epithermal gold
mineralisation in the Afar depression of Ethiopia where the first-
phase drill programme intersected encouraging low- to
moderate-tenor gold mineralisation. The alliance has
continued with project generation activities in Saudi Arabia and
a number of licence applications have been made.
In the Solomon Islands, where AngloGold Ashanti is in joint
venture with XDM Resources, a dominant land position is held
over the New Georgia Island chain. Work has been focused on
specific epithermal and porphyry targets, including Vulu, Mase
and Konga. Future work will focus on the broader region in
anticipation of securing additional land access agreements.
The joint ventures collectively cover 1,707km
2
in the New
Georgia Belt, effectively consolidating the entire island chain.
Exploration activities in 2011 included 4,911m of diamond
drilling, mapping and sampling programmes.
In China, AngloGold Ashanti is in the process of divesting its
70% interest in Gansu Longxin Minerals CJV located in the
Gansu Province of western China. All active exploration
activities have been concluded in China.
The Tropicana joint venture (AngloGold Ashanti 70%,
Independence Group NL 30%) is systematically targeting a
belt of tectonically reworked Archaean and Proterozoic rocks
on the eastern margin of the Yilgarn Craton, Western
Australia. Greenfield exploration in the Tropicana joint venture
during 2011 focused on regional aircore drilling and reverse
circulation/diamond drilling of seven priority targets.
A number of prospects have been identified for further work
including the Iceberg prospect, located 35km south of the
Tropicana gold mine. The wholly-owned Viking project covers
the interpreted southeast extensions of the Tropicana belt.
Exploration during 2011 included airborne magnetics/
radiometrics, regional auger sampling and aircore drilling of
selected targets. Several auger anomalies have been identified
for drill testing.
Brownfield exploration
AngloGold Ashanti continues to actively drive the creation
of value by continually growing its Mineral Resource and Ore
Reserve through a well-defined and active brownfield
exploration programme, innovation in geological modelling
and mine planning, and continual optimisation of its asset
portfolio.
South Africa: A total of 14 surface holes were drilled during
the year, five at Moab Khotsong, three at Mponeng and six
shallower surface holes to the west of Kopanang.
Argentina: At Cerro Vanguardia, the drilling programmes for
Mineral Resource expansion and extension continued during
the year. Follow-up drilling for vein extensions laterally and
at depth was successful, identifying bonanza zones in the
Lucy vein at depth. Exploration and Mineral Resource
modelling to identify heap leach material was active during the
year. Initial drilling at the El Volcan project, based on
geophysical surveys and target identification work, was
completed.
Brazil: Mineral Resource development drilling programmes
continued at the Cuiabá and Lamego mines. The surface
drilling programmes at the Córrego do Sítio project to expand
the oxide Mineral Resource were successful, especially at
the Rosalino and Anomaly 1 targets. Underground drilling at
the Córrego do Sítio started during the year to develop the
Sao Bento and Sangue do Boi sulphide orebodies. Exploration
work in the Nova Lima area beyond the production centres
included completing the deep drilling programme at Raposos
P
58
Review of exploration and development
continued
Introduction
Overview and strategy
Performance in 2011
Future outlook
Governance