While absolute results remain low overall, AngloGold Ashanti shows one of the three stronger results in Economic Development, Lifecycle Management and Community Wellbeing. The company also shows one of the five stronger results in Environmental Responsibility. For the other two thematic areas, Business Conduct and Working Conditions, AngloGold Ashanti’s results are above the average achieved across all 38 companies.

AngloGold Ashanti ranks 4th out of the 38 companies on its mine-site-level results, though with an average score of only 20% in the mine-site assessment.

AngloGold Ashanti’s relatively stronger results in the company-wide assessment reflect its establishment not only of formalised commitments but also company-wide systems on a range of issues. For example, in Economic Development, the company has corporate-level guidelines for partnering with sub-national producing country governments on socio-economic development planning. In Lifecycle Management, AngloGold Ashanti has systematic measures to hold board directors and senior managers accountable for responsible business conduct on ESG issues. In Community Wellbeing, the company has systems designed to ensure its operations engage with local communities and artisanal and small-scale miners, and avoid, minimise and mitigate the impacts of physical or economic displacement.

Compared to the other companies, AngloGold Ashanti accounts for one of the stronger results on its transparency about severe negative impacts linked to its operations. For example, the company publicly reports on community fatalities and injuries, and environmental incidents.

The company shows evidence of continuous improvement in several areas since the RMI Report 2018, most notably in formalising its corporate approach to supporting local procurement and local business development. In addition, AngloGold Ashanti is associated with several leading practices, including for example a comprehensive approach to mitigating the impacts of collective retrenchment, and relatively detailed disclosure of its environmental incidents.

On the other hand, the company’s overall results are limited by a lack of evidence on some issues, such as collaborative R&D on socio-economic and environmental issues related to mining, technical and managerial skills development of its local workforces, and tracking and reviewing the quality of its relationships with affected communities.

Moreover, AngloGold Ashanti’s results in the mine-site-level assessment reveal that none of its four assessed mine sites show any evidence of informing or engaging with affected communities in their post-closure planning. Likewise, none of these sites show evidence of having an operational-level grievance mechanism for their workers.