- Anglogold Ashanti Posts $927m Q3 Profit, Declares $361m Interim Dividend
AngloGold Ashanti reported a third-quarter profit of US$927 million for the three months to September 30, up 13.74% from US$815 million a year earlier, as a stronger gold price helped offset lower production and rising costs.
The company also declared an interim dividend of US$361 million, equivalent to 71 US cents per share. For shareholders on Ghana’s sub-register, the company estimates the payment at about GH¢8.28 per share, using an assumed exchange rate of US$1 to GH¢11.66.
The final cedi amount will depend on the exchange rate applied on November 20, the stated currency conversion date.
The results point to the central tension in the miner’s performance: record-level cash generation and a stronger balance sheet are being achieved while production is down, costs are rising and the company is committing more capital to sustaining and expanding its operations.
AngloGold’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 12% year on year to US$1.57 billion. Gold income increased to US$2.56 billion from US$2.37 billion, while the average price received for gold climbed to US$4,239 an ounce from US$3,490.
That price increase was the most powerful tailwind in the quarter. Group gold production, however, fell to 696,000 ounces from 768,000 ounces in the third quarter of 2025, a decline of 9.38%. Gold sales also slipped to 697,000 ounces from 764,000 ounces.
The gap between higher gold income and lower output illustrates how strongly the price environment shaped the quarter.
The company’s operating performance remains dependent not only on the global gold market, but also on whether its mines can deliver planned volumes and contain costs. A high selling price can strengthen earnings, but it cannot remove the operational risks that come with mining.
Free cash flow was US$722 million, down from US$920 million in the comparable quarter last year. AngloGold attributed the decline to lower ounces sold, higher tax payments, increased investment and working-capital movements.
Capital expenditure by managed operations rose 45% to US$497 million, funding waste stripping, fleet upgrades and the advancement of the North Bullfrog and Arthur Gold projects in Nevada. Cash taxes paid increased to US$174 million from US$75 million.
The quarter’s lower free cash flow therefore came alongside deliberate investment and higher payments linked to improved profitability. For the first nine months of 2026, free cash flow reached US$2.62 billion, compared with US$1.86 billion in the same period last year.
That year-to-date increase gives the company capacity to fund growth projects while returning capital to shareholders.
AngloGold ended September with net cash of US$1.26 billion, compared with US$231 million a year earlier, and total liquidity of about US$4.5 billion. The stronger balance sheet offers room to fund projects without relying exclusively on new borrowing.
But the investment programme will still face execution tests: capital must translate into higher or more resilient output, while the company manages inflationary pressures and cost volatility.
The company reaffirmed full-year production guidance of between 2.80 million and 3.17 million ounces. It said production for the first nine months had reached 2.164 million ounces and remained on track with its annual target.
Reaching the lower end of guidance would require roughly 636,000 ounces in the final quarter, below the third-quarter total but dependent on operational stability and planned mine sequencing.
AngloGold expects several operational developments to support a stronger finish to the year. At Iduapriem in Ghana, dewatering after flooding from a neighbouring mine has restored access to high-grade mining blocks.
The company also said waste stripping at Sukari is opening access to higher-grade ore and that underground stopes at Obuasi are returning to their operational ramp-up.
The Ghana operations will therefore be important to the company’s final-quarter delivery. In the third quarter, output at Iduapriem fell 43% year on year, while Obuasi declined 26%.
Those reductions formed part of a wider pattern: production also declined at Tropicana, Sukari and Geita. Increased output at Siguiri, Sunrise Dam, Kibali, Cuiabá and Cerro Vanguardia partly offset the falls.
The recovery of access at Iduapriem and the resumption of Obuasi’s ramp-up could help lift production, but the company’s guidance depends on those operational improvements translating into actual ounces.
AngloGold cautioned that its estimates assume no operational or labour interruptions, power disruptions or further portfolio changes, and that inflationary pressures could affect results.
Costs provide another measure of the challenge. Total cash costs rose to US$1,534 an ounce from US$1,225 a year earlier, while all-in sustaining costs climbed to US$2,170 an ounce from US$1,720. The company said external market factors accounted for 61% of the year-on-year increase in cash costs in the quarter.
These included higher price-linked royalties and energy costs, alongside planned sustaining investment and lower production volumes.
That means the gold price is lifting revenue while also increasing some costs. The company said the average gold price received during the first nine months was US$4,518 an ounce, contributing to higher royalties.
Fuel-cost pass-throughs also added to the operating cost base. If costs continue rising faster than output, a portion of the benefit from high bullion prices could be absorbed before it reaches free cash flow.
The dividend remains substantial despite the quarterly fall in free cash flow. The US$361 million interim payment brings dividends declared in 2026 to US$1.31 billion, or 259 US cents per share.
For Ghanaian beneficial owners, shares trade ex-dividend on November 25, the record date is November 27 and payment is expected around December 11. The estimated GH¢8.28 per share is not fixed until the currency conversion is completed.
The release also reported a fatality at Sukari: a colleague died following an underground rockfall in August.
Operations were suspended for an investigation and a review of critical-risk procedures, then resumed after the company said lessons were being implemented across the group.
The loss underscores the human risk behind production and financial performance. The company’s ability to meet output targets must be assessed alongside the effectiveness of safety controls at its mines.
For investors, the quarter offers both a strong earnings story and a test of durability. Profit, EBITDA and year-to-date free cash flow are higher, net cash has expanded and the dividend is large. Yet quarterly production and free cash flow were lower, while cash costs and sustaining costs rose.
The final-quarter performance will show whether operational improvements at Iduapriem and Obuasi can convert a favourable gold-price environment into steadier production and cash generation.
