Cerro Vanguardia, Argentina
Located in the province of Santa Cruz, Cerro Vanguardia operates multiple small open pits with high stripping ratios and multiple narrow-vein underground mines that produce gold with silver as a by-product.
Ownership
92.5%
AngloGold Ashanti
Mineral Resource
of gold
Gold production
2020: 173koz
Silver production
2020: 3.6Moz
All-in sustaining costs
2020: $931/oz
Capital expenditure (92.5%)
2020: $29/oz
Workforce
including contractors
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 open pit and underground mines located within the property that are mined simultaneously.
Cerro Vanguardia operates 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. Three mining methods are used for underground mining: sub-level stoping (bottom-up and top-down), cut and fill, and room and pillar.
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 mined material.
- To complement the already existing gold plant, a heap leaching operation was started in 2012.
- The mine has been operated by AngloGold Ashanti since 1998.
ESG statistics 2021
All injury frequency rate
0.75 per million hours worked
(2020: 0.61)
Community investment
$3,568m
(2020: $3,813m)
Reportable environmental incidents
0 (2020: 0)
Water use
1,466ML
(2020: 1,392ML)
Water use efficiency
0.50kL/t
(2020: 0.61kL/t)
Energy consumption
1.76PJ
(2020: 1.56PJ)
Energy use intensity
0.60GJ/t
(2020: 0.69GJ/t)
GHG emissions
96kt
(2020: 83kt)
GHG emission intensity
33kg/t CO2e
(2020: 37kg/t CO2e)
Rehabilitation liabilities
$96m
(2020: $89m)