AngloGold Ashanti says it is working to strengthen the climate resilience of its business and value chain partners, host communities and the environment in which it operates.

In a statement, the miner said: “Our Climate Change Strategy aims to deliver measurable progress, focus our actions, and demonstrate our commitment to proactive, holistic, sustained and transparent action on climate change.”

To achieve this, AngloGold Ashanti said its Climate Change Strategy adheres to five key Principles that include, “Seeking to ensure that our core values are upheld through actions arising from the Climate Change Strategy, maintaining external commitments where we are a signatory, including the ICMM’s Mining Principles, the ICMM’s Position Statement, the WGC’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles and the UNGC; taking a holistic, long-term, life-of-mine and systemic approach to managing climate risks that include aspects beyond the fence line, supply chains, communities and ecosystems; using the latest science-based data, information and knowledge to support decision-making and disclosing in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).”

AngloGold Ashanti noted that its roadmap to Net Zero by 2050 is embedded within its strategy and comprises three stages:

1.         Target 100% clean electricity (>70% green) including wind, solar, hydrogen, and battery, combined with new storage technologies.

2.         Eliminate the use of fossil fuels and adopt 100% electrification. This will include the adoption of electric material movement technology (conveyors, railveyors, trolley assist, battery technology), and energy efficiency initiatives and will be supported by innovative approaches (such as in situ leaching).

3.         Use carbon offsets if necessary and as a last resort, particularly where this could support local communities.

Decarbonisation journey

AngloGold Ashanti noted that it has set an interim target of cutting Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 through a combination of renewable energy projects and initiatives which improve efficiency or use lower-emission power sources.

“We have taken significant steps towards this target with the start of our renewable energy project at Tropicana in Australia and switching to the national power grid at Geita in Tanzania.”

In Australia, the miner noted that subsidiary AngloGold Ashanti Australia entered into an agreement with Pacific Energy to build one of the largest renewable energy projects in Australia’s natural resource sector.

It added that the construction of this hybrid wind, solar and battery storage facility will be the first of its kind to be implemented by the company and will reduce our average carbon emissions by more than 65,000 tonnes per annum over the 10-year life of the Power Purchase Agreement.

At the Geita Gold Mine in Tanzania, AngloGold Ashanti mentioned that a switch diesel generation is being replaced with grid power sourced with a more environmentally friendly combination of energies, including hydropower and natural gas.

The mine is drawing power from a new on-mine substation linked to Tanzania’s national power grid. The switch will result in an estimated 80% reduction in fuel consumption.