Cerro Vanguardia Mine

Location
Cerro Vanguardia Mine Location in Argentina
Location	Puerto San Julián
Province	Santa Cruz
Country	Argentina
Coordinates	48°23′09″S 068°15′49″W / 48.38583°S 68.26361°W / -48.38583; -68.26361
Production
Products	Gold Silver
Production	Gold: 208,000 oz Silver: 2,200,000 oz
Financial year	2009
History
Opened	1998
Owner
Company	AngloGold Ashanti 92.5% Formicruz 7.5%
Website	AngloGold Ashanti website Formicruz website

The Cerro Vanguardia Mine is a gold and silver mine located 150 km north west of Puerto San Julián, in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina. It is majority-owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti, which holds a 92.5% interest in the mine [1]. 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.^[1]

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

Geologically the mine lies in Deseado Massif, an area known for its valuable gold deposits.^[2]

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.^[3]

AngloGold, 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.^[4]

The mine suffered a difficult year in 2008, when production fell by 25% while the cash cost more than doubled.^[1] 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.^[5]

Future mining plans at Cerro Vanguardia include an underground operation, from 2010, and a heap leach operation.^[5]

Recent production figures of the mine were:

• Formicruz website (in Spanish)
• AngloGold Ashanti website
• AngloGold Ashanti: Country report Argentina Archived 2012-03-03 at the Wayback Machine