AngloGold Ashanti cuts losses in 2014

AngloGold Ashanti, one of the world's biggest bullion producers, said Monday it was nearly back in the black, posting a net loss of $39 million in 2014 down from $2.2 billion the previous year.
The South Africa-based firm -- which has operations across Africa as well as in the Americas and Australia -- saw production increase for a second consecutive year.
Output rose 8.0 percent to 4.44 million ounces, a quarter of which was extracted in South Africa.
"The second year of growth is gratifying but the real focus for us is on improving margins," AngloGold CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said in a statement.
AngloGold Ashanti, which is the world's third largest gold producer, began streamlining its operations two years ago.
It saw production costs decrease by 18 percent over the past two years while production shot up by 12 percent during that period.
Despite a 10 percent drop in gold prices, gross operating earnings remained steady at $1.67 billion during the year, thanks to the improved production, cost cutting measures and weaker currencies in South Africa, Australia and Brazil.
But production is forecast to be slightly lower this year, dropping to between 4.0 million ounces and 4.3 million ounces of gold, due to the sale of one of the company's Namibian mines, a production drop in its Mali operation, and restructuring at the Obuasi mine in Ghana.
The Johannesburg-headquartered company has twenty operations in 10 countries across four continents.