Cerro Vanguardia Mine
Encyclopedia
The Cerro Vanguardia Mine is a gold and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 mine located 150 km north west of Puerto San Julián
Puerto San Julián
Puerto San Julián, also known historically as Port St Julian, is a natural harbour in Patagonia in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina located at . In the days of sailing ships it formed a stopping point, south of Puerto Deseado...

, in the Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
Santa Cruz is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut province to the north, and Chile to the west and south. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean...

 province
Provinces of Argentina
Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It is majority-owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti
AngloGold Ashanti
AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation.AngloGold Ashanti Limited is now a global gold producer with 21 operations on four continents...

, which holds a 92.5% interest in the mine. The remaining 7.5% are owned by Formicruz (Fomento Minero de Santa Cruz Sociedad del Estado), a company owned by the province of Santa Cruz.

In 2008, the mine contributed 3% to the company's annual production and employes in excess of 1,000 people. The Cerro Vanguardia mine consists of a number of small open pits.

History

The gold deposit at Cerro Vanguardia was first discovered in 1976 and, in 1987, mining group Pérez Companc S.A. formed a mineral exploration joint venture with AMSA, Anglo American’s South American holding company.

AngloGold
AngloGold
AngloGold was a gold mining company based in South Africa and majority-owned by the Anglo American group. In 2004 it merged with the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation to create the world's second-largest gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti. It's a big company....

, predecessor of AngloGold Ashanti, acquired a 46.23% interest in the project in 1998-99, and an additional 46.25%, the Pérez Companc stake, in July 2002, doubling its interest to 92.5%. AngloGold Ashanti owns the right to exploit the
deposit for 40 years based on the Usufruct Agreement, signed in
December 1996. Cerro Vanguardia, which was constructed at a total cost of US$ 270 million, was commissioned in late 1998.

The mine suffered a difficult year in 2008, when production fell by 25% while the cash cost more than doubled. The company did however manage to improve production in 2009 and lower the cash cost again. In 2009, the mine was also fatality-free for the seventh consecutive year.

Future mining plans at Cerro Vanguardia include an underground operation, from 2010, and a heap leach operation.

Gold production

Recent production figures of the mine were:
Year Production (oz) Grade Cost per ounce
2003 226,000 7.15 g/t US$ 143
2004 229,000 7.60 g/t US$ 156
2005 228,000 7.70 g/t US$ 171
2006 232,000 7.29 g/t US$ 225
2007 220,000 6.8 g/t US$ 261
2008 166,000 5.44 g/t US$ 608
2009 208,000 6.51 g/t US$ 355
2010

External links

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