[VIDEO] AngloGold Unveils Ground-Breaking Technology

A new technology from South Africa’s largest gold miner, AngloGold Ashanti, could significantly alter how gold mining is conducted. The company produced 1,600 oz of gold utilizing the game-changing technology, which mines “all the gold, only the gold, all the time, safely.”

The technology, which is referred to as the South African Technology Project, eliminates blasting and dilution, and introduces a safer working environment. According to AngloGold Ashanti CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat), the technology “is making significant inroads.”

The latest quarter saw the company implement drastic cost cuts across the board, reducing its all-in sustaining cost by 22 percent. The budget for the technology, however, was one of the few that remained untouched.

“We’re putting more effort into the technology, which is the key lever we have to improve the productivity levels in South Africa and also turn the declining trend,” Venkat said.

The South African Technology Project is being utilized at AngloGold’s Tau Tona gold mine. The project is already into its 25th drill hole and now has machines that are drilling narrow reefs in local orebodies.

The outlook for the technology looks promising. AngloGold expects 10 to 20 percent of its South African gold to be produced by the technology in the future as it has the potential to change the face gold mining.

Although the technology is still in its infirmary, a number of non-group gold and platinum miners have already approached the company about making use of it.

 “We’ve not sought to keep this to ourselves. We’re looking at the greater good of South Africa,” Venkat said.