AngloGold Ashanti Divests Brazilian Mine to Aura Minerals for $76 Million
Gold mining giant AngloGold Ashanti Plc has agreed to divest its Mineração Serra Grande (MSG) mine in Brazil to Aura Minerals Inc., as part of ongoing efforts to streamline operations and enhance capital efficiency.
Under the terms of the agreement, AngloGold will sell Mineração Serra Grande S.A., the entity which owns MSG, to a Brazilian affiliate of Aura Minerals for a total consideration of $76 million in cash, subject to working capital adjustments at closing.
In addition to the upfront cash payment, the Johannesburg and New York-listed miner will receive quarterly deferred consideration payments equivalent to a 3% net smelter return royalty over MSG’s current Mineral Resource, inclusive of its Mineral Reserve.
The MSG mine, located in the Goiás state of central Brazil, is AngloGold Ashanti’s smallest by production and among its higher-cost operations. In recent times, the Company’s focus at the site has been on operational stability and the decommissioning of its legacy tailings storage facility (TSF Decharacterization), which is now nearing completion.
Commenting on the sale, Chief Executive Officer of AngloGold Ashanti, Alberto Calderon, said the divestiture aligns with the Company’s broader portfolio optimisation strategy.
“This sale ensures we further sharpen our focus on capital allocation, operating efficiencies and the optimization of our portfolio,” said Calderon. “We’ve also worked hard to ensure that MSG and its excellent team joins an established company which will continue to be responsible stewards of this asset for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
As part of the transaction, certain subsidiaries under Mineração Serra Grande S.A. that hold non-mining properties and unrelated assets will be spun off and retained within the AngloGold group, prior to the transaction closing.
Completion of the sale remains subject to the fulfilment of key conditions including anti-trust clearance from Brazilian competition authorities (CADE), the finalisation of the TSF decharacterization work, the completion of the spin-off of non-core MSG subsidiaries, and the absence of any material adverse events before closing.
AngloGold Ashanti anticipates that all conditions will be met and the transaction will close in the third quarter of 2025.
The sale forms part of a broader strategic realignment by the gold major, which in 2023 completed a corporate restructuring that saw its primary listing move to the New York Stock Exchange.
