AngloGold CEO Cuts Red Tape to Boost Output and Lower Costs

(Bloomberg) -- AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s new boss said he’ll do away with red tape to boost output and cut costs.

Alberto Calderon, who took the helm of the world’s No. 3 gold producer on Sept. 1, will boost the ability of local managers in Africa, Australia and Latin America to make their own decisions, he said in an interview. The end of the company’s multilayered reporting structure will also entail job cuts, he said. 

AngloGold, which has underperformed rivals since an accident in May slashed output from its Obuasi mine in Ghana, is also battling to lower costs, improve metal grades and repatriate profits from the Democratic Republic of Congo and tax refunds from Tanzania.

“The most difficult challenge for the company is that it’s lost its competitive position versus its peers and that is what I’m addressing,” Calderon said. “Fixing the operating models, having people in the right places, more production and reducing costs -- that’s my priority.”

Read more: AngloGold CEO Faces Costs Pressures After Key Ghana Mine Hit

AngloGold’s new “simplified structure” will mean local managers report only to the chief operations officer and chief executive officer, having previously dealt with as many as six bosses across various departments, according to Calderon. He declined to specify the number of planned job cuts, saying only that “it’s not many; this is not a big retrenchment process.”

A new executive structure will be named in a couple of weeks after completing some legal processes, Calderon said on an investor call. Some of the changes include having one chief operations officer for all operations, he added. AngloGold has already announced two new hires since the CEO took over.

AngloGold will tackle its internal challenges before potentially executing long-held plans to move its primary listing away from Johannesburg, he said. A new listing will be considered in future as “part of a suite of options to add value.”

Among a long to-do list, Calderon must seek approval for a new mine in Colombia -- a gold and copper project that’s key to the company’s expansion in the Americas region. The CEO said earlier that the development would likely be delayed by 18 to 24 months due to environmental-permit hurdles.

With the Quebradona project pushed back, AngloGold may be able to develop its Corvus asset in the U.S. faster, Calderon said.

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