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GoldenSextant.com gets improvements and the report of the U.S. Gold Commission

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Jude Webber
Reuters
Friday, May 7, 2004

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5078101

LIMA, Peru -- Fresh from its $1.55 billion takeover of
Ghana's Ashanti Goldfields last month, the world's No.
2 bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. now reckons
that the era of big mergers is over and that deals with
junior exploration companies are the way to go.

"We think large-scale consolidation has probably come
to an end in the gold industry," Chief Executive Bobby
Godsell told reporters on Friday after a speech to a gold
conference here.

"I think growth now is going to come from exploration,
from cost effectiveness, reducing margins ... and I think
it's going to come increasingly from the way in which
the major guys can work with juniors," he added.

Junior mining companies typically discover promising
deposits -- "geological entrepreneurship" as Godsell
put it -- while the majors bring cash and technology to
develop them.

"We're reflecting on our experience to date and we're
going to run an active juniors strategy. So in the parts
of the world where we operate, we're going to seek out
those junior companies that we think are most
innovative or most entrepreneurial and seek to become
their partners of first choice," Godsell said.

He said Anglogold's total exploration budget was
around $60 million. That plus the approximately $3
billion spent on deals in the last five years "gives you
some sense of the pot of money that we would be
drawing on," he said.

"I'm not indicating that all of that would go to juniors.
I'm saying that is the pot. I think we have the capacity
to fund this significantly," he added.

AngloGold's rationale for deals was "will it give us a
10 percent real rate of return for our investors?" he
added.

AngloGold, which has operations in North and
South America, Africa, and Australia, said it is very
interested in Mongolia.

Toronto-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. is expected to
sell up to 50 percent of its Oyu Tolgoi gold and c
opper project there, sparking much speculation as
to possible bidders.

Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. on Thursday said it
would take a serious look at the project, which is
also known as Turquoise Hill.

AngloGold kept mum on its plans.

"We are interested in Mongolia," Godsell said. "We
think from a common-sense point of view that much
gold is going to be found in the underexplored parts
of the world, and certainly Mongolia and China and
large parts of the former Soviet Union, Asia, fall into
that category."

But he added: "I'm not going to comment until we have
a deal."

In general terms, he said AngloGold would be
"fascinated by 3 million to 5 million ounce ore bodies
anywhere."

Godsell said he was "entirely unfazed" by size rivalry
with AngloGold and world No. 1 Newmont Mining
Corp. "It is profitability and growth prospects (that
count), and our aim is to be consistently the most
profitable," he said.

Godsell said his combined company had reserves of
some 6.4 million ounces and expected cash costs this
year of $250 per ounce.

As for the gold price, which was $378.75 on Friday,
Godsell said he saw a range this year of $380 to $450.

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