Gold Guinea Fine

Gold Guinea Fine

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Anglogold Ashanti Says Guinea Operations Continuing

AngloGold Ashanti Says Guinea Operations Continuing 

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., which owns the Siguiri gold mine in Guinea, said its operations in the West African country are continuing, even after the ruling military junta said yesterday it canceled all mining agreements.

"Our operations are continuing," said AngloGold's spokesman, Alan Fine, in a telephone interview from Cape Town today. "Our understanding of the situation is that the authorities have said they are going to cancel all operations where mining rights have been obtained under the table and that doesn't apply to us."

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, head of the junta which seized power on Dec. 23 following the death of President Lasana Conte, said a decision had been made to cancel all mining agreements in the country and revise existing contracts due to corruption in the industry, according to a statement to political parties at the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp in the capital of Conakry.

Transparency International ranked Guinea 173rd out of 180 countries in its league table of perceived corruption this year.

"Activities in the gold-bearing zones" have been "arrested at the moment," Camara said yesterday.

AngloGold, the biggest producer of the metal in Africa, is the first mining company to respond to the statement. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest mining company which is exploring part of the Simandou iron ore deposit, ordered it staff in the capital on Dec. 23 to stay at home. Calls to Nick Cobban, a London-based spokesman for Rio, were not immediately returned today.

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton Ltd., which plans to develop an alumina refinery and bauxite mine in a venture with Global Alumina Corp., has shut its Conakry office. Spokesmen for the company's Johannesburg and London-based offices did not immediately respond to messages left on their mobile phones.

"According to our information they are reviewing mining rights," said Fine. "We are happy and willing to talk to the new rulers as long as the interests and rights of all parties are recognized."Guinea, which holds the world's biggest reserves of bauxite, has no history of a democratic transfer of power. The junta has ruled out elections for two years and imposed a nationwide curfew following its takeover a day after Conte died.

A former French colony, Guinea is also the world's fourth- biggest producer of bauxite, an ore used in the production of aluminum, after Australia, Brazil and China. Bauxite and related industries account for about 80 percent of the country's foreign exchange earnings. The nation produced 14 million metric tons of bauxite last year, according to the U.S. Geological Service.

Violent protests in early 2007 contributed to the price of alumina jumping 76 percent in two months. Alcoa Inc. and United Co. Rusal also have operations in the country.

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