Cerro Vanguardia, Argentina

Overview and locality

Cerro Vanguardia, in which AngloGold Ashanti has a 92.5% stake, is the Company’s sole operation in Argentina. Fomicruz, a state company, owns the remaining 7.5%.

Cerro Vanguardia is a gold-silver operation with multiple small open pits with high stripping ratios and multiple narrow-vein underground mines that produce gold with silver as a by-product. Three mining methods are used for underground mining: sub-level stoping (bottom-up and top-down), cut and fill, and room and pillar. There is a single tailings dam.

The state road GO-337 passes close to the operation, providing access for logistics. Power for the mine is supplied and purchased in the open market.

A brief history

• Gold exploration at the site was started in late 1980s by the state owned Fomicruz and Minera Mincorp (JV between Anglo American Argentina Holdings Limited and a local private company, Perez Companc).
• Cerro Vanguardia began as an open pit operation in 1998 and this was supplemented in 2010 with the start of shallow underground mining to access high-grade material.
• To complement the existing gold plant, a heap leaching operation was started in 2012.
• The mine has been operated by AngloGold Ashanti since 1998.