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ANGLOGOLD PUBLISHES ITS ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2002 TODAY

Release Date: 27/03/2003 09:40
Code(s): ANG
Wrap Text

ANGLOGOLD PUBLISHES ITS ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2002 TODAY Press release Anglogold Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) CORPORATE AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT (Registration Number: 1944/017354/06) 16th Floor, 11 Diagonal Street, ISIN Number:ZAE000043485 Johannesburg 2001, South Africa JSE Share Code: ANG Tel: (+27 11) 637-6385 or NYSE Ticker: AU Fax: (+27 11) 637-6399/6400 SKB/CAD/AGO353.03 27 March 2003 ANGLOGOLD PUBLISHES ITS ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2002 TODAY In the AngloGold Annual Report 2002 published today, AngloGold Chairman Russell Edey and Deputy Chairman James Motlatsi say that the company has performed well, reflecting the benefits of the company"s growth and risk diversification strategy. Although gold production declined with the sale of the Free State mines in South Africa, total cash costs were down year-on-year by 10% to $161/oz and headline earnings increased by 29% on the 2001 performance, to $368 million. Returns on capital and equity for the year were 15% and 21% respectively. Turning to South Africa"s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and Socio-economic Empowerment Charter, they comment that AngloGold entirely endorses the Charter"s focus on human capital development. `"We will continue to apply energy and substantial resources to workplace and literacy training, tertiary education and the development of effective secondary schools in the areas of Southern Africa from where we draw human resources."" Referring to the Charter"s scorecard, Edey and Motlatsi say: `"The Charter is a document which, if implemented in the spirit in which it has been developed, will be a valuable tool in turning the country"s extraordinary mineral endowment into real wealth to the benefit of all of South Africa"s people."" In an interview in the Annual Report, AngloGold CEO Bobby Godsell responds to questions on the Charter and says: `"What the Charter is turning out to be is a test of the social licence. A business will only survive if it benefits all of its stakeholders over time - if people, the community, customers, employees and shareholders are left better off having an association with the company. I think it"s a very good document and it is going to make the South African industry more competitive, not less, and lead to greater wealth creation, not less.`" FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM THE INTERVIEW WITH BOBBY GODSELL FOLLOW: What shareholders can expect in 2003 "We are going to mine 6Moz of gold, we are going to mine it at a good cost, we are going to generate a lot of profit and we would be hoping to pay a really decent dividend. We hope that our price reflects the benefit of that, particularly over time." About costs "We can"t manage the price 'of gold'. We can"t manage the exchange rate. What we can manage are the costs and so our target is that we will keep our cost increases in South Africa to two-thirds of the country"s inflation rate." On the improvement in the gold price in 2002 "What pleases me is that the ghosts around the gold price have gone away. For over a decade- and-a-half people have argued that gold has lost its glister, that gold is no longer a store of value, that gold is something that only primitive people want and hold, that the dollar will be strong forever, that the US equity markets will grow by 30% a year forever. That has gone away." "I think the negative sentiment has gone away and that there"s more upside than downside in the price. We never predict it." On the gold industry "It"s very interesting that the first sentence of every conversation about gold is a conversation about price. It"s indicative of an industry that hasn"t grown up, because industries don"t do well because of price, they do well because of profit." "The gold industry is not very customer orientated. An industry that forgets its customers will, and deserves to, go out of business. The customers of gold are overwhelmingly people who buy jewellery - 80% of 4,000t of annual production goes into jewellery. "For the last five years we have been looking at the customer and we would like to be part of modernising gold jewellery...we want to revolutionise what we offer our customers." ends To view the Annual Report, please visit the AngloGold website: http://www.anglogold.co.za/